Censorship in Portugal - Liberalism

Liberalism

Mary I's Carta de Lei (law) of 1787 replaced the Real Mesa Censória with the Mesa da Comissão Geral sobre o Exame e Censura dos Livros (Board of the General Commission on the Exam and Censorship of the Books), the Queen having asked Pope Pius VI to provide this organ with the adequate jurisdiction for the censorship works throughout the entire Portuguese Empire. On December 17, 1793 Portugal returned to a system similar to the one in use before the Real Mesa Censória, with the separation of duties between 3 authorities: Pontifical, Royal and Episcopal. This meant that the Inquisition once again set foot on Portuguese lands. These were, however, times of change. Some periodicals, like the Correio Brasiliense (1808), the Investigador Português (1811), and the Campeão Português, managed to evade investigation during this period. During the Peninsular war, a rigorous regime of censorship was instituted by the French authorities, similar to the one in place in France at the time. Despite that, clandestine newspapers were still published. It would be from London, however, that the political refugees, with the support of local Portuguese merchants, would start an abundant literary production and an effort to translate the most important liberal works by John Locke, Adam Smith and Benjamin Franklin, among others, and establish dozens of periodicals, some of them being printed until after the Civil War.

The Decree of March 31, 1821 brought the "Tribunal do Santo Oficio" (the Inquisition) to an end, because it is found to be "incompatible with the principles adopted as basis for the Constitution", being "the spiritual and the merely ecclesiastical causes" returned to the "Episcopal Jurisdiction". The Constitution of 1822 established the freedom of the press ("the free communication of thoughts"), without the need for prior censorship, though it still reserved the possibility for any abuse to be punished "in the cases and the way the law determines". The censorship in matters of religion was left, reserved to the ecclesiastical episcopal power, being the government obligated to help the bishops in punishing whoever was found guilty. This period of relative freedom, would however, be a short one. With the Vilafrancada, one year later, prior censorship was once again reintroduced. On November 13, John VI, aware of the revolutionary influences that were coming into the country through several newspapers printed abroad, extended censorship also to include international papers, which would, from then on, require a royal license to enter the country. From 1824, censorship was handled by two instances (being the third one, the Inquisition definitely extinct): the "Censura do Ordinário" (Ordinary Censor) and the "Desembargo do Paço" (roughly the Custom House Censor, for foreign materials).

The "Carta Constitucional" (Constututional Charter) of 1826 once again rejected prior censorship, as is stated in article 145, third paragraph: "Everyone can communicate their thoughts by words and writings, and publish them through the press, without depending upon censorship, as long as they are made to answer for any abuse that is committed while exercising that right, in the cases and form prescribed by the law". Quickly, however, the government tried to establish a stricter control in its press policies. Francisco Manuel Trigoso, the chief of government, established on September 23, the "Comissão de Censura" (Censorship Commission) for "handbills and periodical writings" (newspapers). By August 16, 1828, this commission had been abolished, with its censorship responsibilities being transferred to the "Mesa do Desembargo do Paço" (the appellate court).

It would be on November 21, 1833, with the liberal regime in place, that Joaquim António de Aguiar would sign a decreto-lei nominating those responsible for the prior censorship of Portuguese newspapers until a law that agreed with the constitutional principle came into force (a Decreto-Lei (decree) is a law enacted by the government alone, as opposed to the parliament, and is usually accepted as morally weaker). This law would be signed into effect on December 22, 1834, abolishing prior censorship, but making provisions for the prosecution of abuses, namely those against the Roman Catholic Church, the state, or the "bons costumes" (good habits - the public morals), and for slander.

On February 3, 1840, a complaint was brought by the owners of typographical workshops to the Câmara dos Deputados (Chamber of Deputies - the parliament), alleging that "without condemnation or sentence", they had been the victims of the whims of the authorities (police) which had been coming into the workshops and destroying their presses. On the night of August 11 of that same year, there was rioting in the streets of Lisbon, which lead Queen Mary II to begin a cycle of constant and successive "temporary" elimination of liberties, like the freedom of press, resulting in further rioting. The law of October 19, drafted by Costa Cabral, forced publishers to pay hefty bonds, deposits and mortgages, and to submit to an exam qualifying them as honorable persons. Press freedom would only be formally reestablished through the law of August 3, 1850 (known as the "Lei das Rolhas" ), even though public opinion did not regard it as being in the spirit of the Constitution, because it still contained heavy sanctions which in practice completely restricted the activity of writers and journalists. Among the intellectuals that rebelled against this law were Alexandre Herculano, Almeida Garrett, António Pedro Lopes de Mendonça, José Estêvão de Magalhães and Latino Coelho. Also sharing this opinion was the Duque of Saldanha, who shortly after rising to power, revoked it, opening a period known as the "Regeneração" (regeneration/renewal) which would be especially welcomed by journalists after the law of May 17, 1866 specifically abolished any "bonds or restrictions to the periodical press".

The monarchic regime, however, tried to face the growing power of republican ideals. The first repressive action taken in this context was the closure of the Conferências do Casino (the Casino Conferences, republican public meetings), where Antero de Quental, Augusto Soromenho, Eça de Queiroz and Adolfo Coelho had already spoken. When Salomão Saragga was to take the stand to speak about the "Divinity of Jesus", the room was closed, under the pretext that the discussions were offensive to religion and to the "Fundamental Code of the Monarchy". After the protests of a few dozen Portuguese intellectuals against this attitude of the government, Antero de Quental and Jaime Batalha appealled the parliament to recognize these actions as illegal. Deputy Luis de Campos brought his protest to the Marquês de Ávila e Bolama, the Prime Minister at the time: "sue them but don't close them, you don't have the power for that".

On March 29, 1890, a dictatorial decree imposed severe sanctions on newspaper publishers, and forceful closure should they repeat the offense. On February 13, 1896 the government of Hintze Ribeiro took even more drastic actions. Despite no legal provisions existing for prior censorship, the police seized any materials that criticized the monarchic institutions. It would be another two years until the press once again enjoyed more freedom. This state of things would last until June 20, 1907, when through a coup d'etat João Franco came to power, and any "writings, drawings or printed papers deemed dangerous to public order or security" were forbidden. The Governadores Civis (Civil Governors - the representative of the central government in the district) were allowed to close down newspapers. This law would be officially repealed when Manuel II was enthroned, but the repression would be unchanged and a "gabinete negro" (dark cabinet) would be added to every criminal court, in order to watch over the Press in each judicial district.

See also: History of Portugal (1777–1834)#End of the war and consequences