Henrique Mitchell de Paiva Couceiro - Counter-revolutionary

Counter-revolutionary

His silence was broken in July 1910, when he published an editorial in the Franco supported O Correio da Manhã and signed HPC, wherein he appealed for a counter-revolution to save the monarchy. He then was involved in several inconsequential conspiracies, in order to implant a monarchist regime in Parliament, defending most of the ideas anti-democratic Republicans would adopt. His appeals were not given any debate. Rapidly, the regime fell on October 5, and the First Portuguese Republic was proclaimed.

Paiva Couceiro was one of the few military commanders to try and seriously stop the revolution, without success.

His artillery, located on the Torel, was the only garrison to fire on the camps in the Rotunda or the Eduardo VII Park. Abandoned by other monarchist troops, and after bombarding the Rotunda, he marched to Sintra to join the King. On finding-out that D. Manuel II had moved to Mafra he attempted to meet-up with the King, who had subsequently evacuated from Ericeira on the royal yacht Amélia IV. At a time where Republican success was not clear, he was ordered by superiors to the barracks. The Portuguese military at this time had not yet joined the Republican revolution, and it was tenuous enough that Admiral Cândido dos Reis, fearing a crushing of the movement, committed suicide. Henrique Paiva Couceiro was informed of this event and the fragility of the Republican revolution, although it is unclear whether at that moment he was willing to disobey his superiors and take the initiative to continue the battle against the Republicans. The Republican revolution was not as widely supported; photos taken in the Praça do Município, when the Republican directorate took control, showed few residents celebrating the revolution. Although considered a monarchist, on October 6, he was contacted by the Provisional Government to determine his allegiance, even after the events at the Rotunda. In an interview with Joaquim Leitão, Paiva Couceiro recounted his response:

I recognize the institutions that the people recognize. But, if the people's opinion isn't unanimous, if the North does not agree with the South, I will be, until the end, on the side of the faithful to tradition. And if it requires foreign intervention to support the Monarchy, then I will be on the side of the Republic...Afterwords I asked to resign. I asked it because, after many years of sacrifice and work under the blue and white colors and shields of our flag, I did not think, I could not take to abandon the symbol of the history of my Country. Pretend that a symbol with roots in our soul and inspired respect in all the World and works of many generations. And I, for my part, find myself too old to begin now, a new struggle that the garlands of a new flag require.

After his proposal to the Provisional Government, on March 18, 1911, and following the May 28, 1911 elections (which he did not recognize), he went to the Ministry of War and resigned his commission, depositing his sword and stating:

I deliver my resignation and leave the Country to ferment conspiracy. Arrest me if you wish.

No one responded, and he turn his back and left the Ministry, without anyone arresting him.

He commanded a monarchist incursion on October 4, 1911, that entered into Portugal from Cova da Lua, Espinhosela and Vinhais (where the monarchist flag was raised from the balconies of the city council halls) and attacked the city of Chaves, with the discreet indifference of the Spanish government of Alfonso XIII. Three days later, Republican forces forced his troops into retreat, and they escaped to Galiza.

In December 1911, he participated in meetings to deal with the dynastic question imposed by D. Manuel II and his cousin, D. Miguel, that would be settled in the "Dover Pact", which was published in London (December 30, 1911). Writing in his journal, Paiva Couceiro wrote: 'And finally we can fix on the 30th of January (1912), the date of the meeting of the Royal Persons in Dover, in respect to the protocol. In fact, they realized on this date and place, a meeting between the King D. Manuel and his cousin D. Miguel of Braganza, in a hall of the Lord Warden Hotel, where there appeared also, the Viscount of Assêca who accompanied D. Manuel, the Viscount of São João da Pesqueira, who accompanied D. Miguel, and Paiva Couceiro in the role of Chief of the Combatants, accompanied by Francisco Pombal. The King D. Manuel and Mr. D. Miguel of Braganza signed the monumental "Pact of Dover".

Along with other "incursionistas", Paiva Couceiro was sentenced in absentia by the 2nd District Court in Oporto, on June 17, 1912; along with Couceiro were included Father Domingos Pires, José Maria Fernandes, Abílio Ferreira, Firmino Augusto Martins, Manuel Lopes, David Lopes, Captain Jorge Camacho, Count of Mangualde, Captain Remédios da Fonseca, Medical Captain José Augusto Vilas Boas and Lieutenant Figueira. The judgment sentenced him to six years in prison, or ten years in exile and was considered "relatively mild considering the service provided to the Fatherland". The remaining attackers were convicted to six years in prison, 10-years in exile and some to 20-years. On July 6, 1912, he began his exile by commanding another monarchist incursion into Chaves which was, once more, repelled on July 8, 1912, and his heads into exile. This sentence was formalized on November 19, 1912 by a military tribunal, officially exiling the Captain in 1915; in article 2 of the Amnesty Decree issued February 22, 1915 signed by Bernardino Luíz Machado Guimarães and Manuel Joaquim Rodrigues Monteiro it is made clear that the leaders and instigators, who included Paiva Couceiro specifically, were expelled from the territory of the Portuguese Republic for a period of ten years. The decree was promulgated by Pimenta de Castro in 1915 to include Azevedo Coutinho, Jorge Camacho, Victor Sepulveda and João de Almeida.

In 1915, he was invited to become Governor of Angola, by the Republican government led by Araújo de Sá, Oliveira Jericote and others, at his home in Oeiras. Paiva Couceiro refuses to serve in the government, and instead moves to Spain, where he plots the restoration of the monarchy.

After the assassination of Sidónio Pais (1919), Paiva Couceiro finds another opportunity launch his goal of restoring the monarchy. With the help of expatriates, he was able to subvert the institutions in the northern territories from Moinho along the Vouga River, and in the name of D. Manuel II of Portugal, exiled in Great Britain, attempted to restore the 1826 Constitution. His objective was the return of a corporate, Catholic monarchy; it this end, he proclaims in Porto, the "Monarchy of the North" (January 19 to February 13, 1919). Paiva Couceiro exercised the role of President of the Governing Junta of the Kingdom (1919), whose function was equivalent to the Prime Minister. During these 25 days in power. The governing Junta revoked all republican legislation promulgated since October 5, 1910, restored the monarchist flag and anthem and attempted to legislate its legitimacy. During this period he was supported by leaders in the "Integralistas", including Luís de Almeida Braga (its Secretary) and António Sardinha. In Monsanto, near Lisbon, he is helped by Pequito Rebelo and Hipólito Raposo. His role in these monarchist incursions, and for his loyalty to the cause, he became known as O Paladino (the Paladin).

Soldiers! You have in front of yourselves the Blue and White flag! Soldiers! Those were always the colors of Portugal, since Afonso Henriques, at Ourique, in the defense of our land against the Moors, until when D. Manuel II was king and maintained it against the African rebels in our dominions of Magul, Coolela, Cuamato and many other battles that illustrate our Portuguese army...When in 1910, Portugal abandoned the Blue and White, Portugal abandoned its history! And the people that abandoned their history are those people who fall and die.

Soldiers! The Army, above all, is the highest expression of the Fatherland and, for this, it must support and guard the nation in the most difficult circumstances, aiding in the appropriate hour against risks, be them external or internal, that threatens its existence...And to abandon your history is an error that kills! Against this error you must protest. Therefore, the Army, raises again the Blue and White flag...Show it the road to valor, to loyalty and bravado, where the Portuguese of the past conquered greatness and fame, which still today give dignity to the Army of Portugal in front of the nations of the World!

We swear to follow it, soldiers! And to protect it with our bodies, even at the cost of our own blood! And with the help of God, and the force of traditional convictions, that the Blue and White symbolize, our Fatherland will save us!

Long live the King D. Manuel II!

Long live the Army! Long live the Portuguese Fatherland!

The monarchist rebellion of 1919 did not succeed since it did not have enough support. On February 13, although he begins to reside in Madrid, he is once again condemned by a Special Military Tribunal, which is convened to sentence the participants of the Northern Monarchy; along with António Solari Alegro, Paiva Couceiro is sentenced again to exile on December 3, 1920 for 25 years (Diário do Minho, Braga 4/12/1920). In a new amnesty, which was decreed on January 24, 1924, he returns to Portugal.

During the Estado Novo he is, yet again, sent into exile, for six months, following a public criticism of the colonial politics employed by António de Oliveira Salazar's Estado Novo government. This did not diminish his commentary, and on October 31, 1937 is arrested and forced into exile; at the age of 77 he is sent to Granadilla de Abona, on the Spanish island of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, in the Canary Islands. In 1939, he is permitted to return to Portugal by the Salazar regime, where he would live out the last days of his life, but still declaring his imperial aspirations:

"Empire we are, Empire we must remain"