In Marshal Deodoro da Fonseca's house, the conspirators begged for action, for leadership.
"Marshal, we have to do it now! We can't wait!"
"The monarchy--" Deodoro suffered from dyspnea; talking and breathing wasn't easy for him. "The monarchy is a good thing," he said after struggling a little.
"Permission to speak freely, sir?"
"You all are harassing me in my own home, asking me to betray my sovereign. The least you could offer is your complete sincerity," this time, Deodoro didn't struggle to talk.
The conspirators looked at each other. They all nodded; they knew it would be difficult to convince the Marshal, and all of them knew it would be impossible if they lied or didn't were sincere.
"The Emperor doesn't care for the Army. He ties our hands with bureaucracy and scrutiny. Civilians give us orders and forbid us from making decisions; we can only talk to the press after the authorization of the Minister of War. Also, the Emperor prefers the Navy."
Deodoro da Fonseca looked at all the conspirators; he didn't agree with them at all.
They noticed the doubts in the Marshal's face. They kept pressing.
"You read the records from the Paraguayan War; we're the last country in South America who still is a monarchy. And all of them are in a better shape than us."
"Yes, I read the reports. What I read showed me that we still are the most powerful Army in the region, or did we not easily win the War?" Again, Deodoro didn't struggle at all to breathe nor talk.
The conspirators looked at each other; the Marshal was a very clever man and seemed to have an answer to everything they threw at him.
"Pedro II don't care for us, the employers. His daughter abolished slavery and didn't pay anything to us. He could have done something, but he turned a blind eye to the reckless actions of his daughter, and we are paying the price!"
"You complain that we are not equal to the other countries of the region by still having a monarch, but now you complain because we are equal, or were we not the last country of South America to abolish slavery?" Deodoro smiled; he knew the conspirators had their agenda, one that had nothing to do with Brazil's welfare, "So, please. Before trying to convince me of something, make your minds of what you want, to be equal to the other countries or to be different."
The conspirators felt the defeat. However, they were ready for it. The group still had a couple of cards on their sleeves.
It was time to use one of them.
"There's an arrest warrant issued against you. At any moment, they could come and incarcerate you."
"That is--" that shocked Deodoro; it shocked so much that it became hard to breathe. Someone tried to help him, but he declined with roughness. "That's impossible. I have not done anything wrong."
The conspirators concealed a happy sigh. Finally, the Marshal was listening to them.
"We told you the Emperor prefers the Navy; they must have poisoned his mind and made him believe you are a traitor."
"If that is the case--" Deodoro took a couple of seconds to recompose, "I will talk to Pedro myself while in jail, and I will convince him that whatever he heard is a complete and blunt lie."
The Marshal's voice was weak but resolute.
The conspirators, that moments ago were relieved, now feared for their plan. They needed the Marshal; Deodoro da Fonseca was the only one strong enough to lead the Army. Without him, the monarchy would go on.
"We didn't..."
Deodoro looked at the men standing in his home. So far, they spoke their mind freely. Why were they choking now?
"Speak, that is an order."
"We didn't want to be the bearers of bad news, so we concealed that from you. However, now we see ourselves cornered."
"Concealing things from me is not great for your cause," Deodoro's voice was full of a raging warning.
"On November 20, we'll have a new President of the Council of Ministers of the Empire..."
It was the conspirator's last card.
"Who?" Even with only one word, the men understood why the Marshal was the right man, the only man for the job. Deodoro da Fonseca emitted authority.
"Gaspar da Silveira Martins."
At the mention of that name, the Marshal became red, then purple. The anger worsened his condition. He couldn't breathe; he couldn't talk. For a couple of minutes, no one knew what to do. It looked like Deodoro wouldn't survive the shock.
But he did.
"Gentleman, bring me my horse and my men. It is time for us to become a republic. The monarchy cripples the country in every possible way. Today, not tomorrow, we will expel the Emperor, his family, and every member of the court from our country! Tomorrow, we all will be awakening in a free and republican Brazil!"
THE END
*****
The Proclamation of the Republic (Portuguese: Proclamação da República do Brasil) was a military coup d'état that established the First Brazilian Republic on 15 November 1889. It overthrew the constitutional monarchy of the Empire of Brazil and ended the reign of Emperor Pedro II.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proclamation_of_the_Republic_(Brazil)
