…. when I sat down to my Desk I
never imagined I would have got so far on, one subject drove hard after
another, and we often find that there is no way in which one’s mind can be
better known than by the good quill….
In the 1820s Brazil’s Portuguese elite
declared the colony’s independence. Great Britain recognised this new Brazil in
exchange for a very favourable low-tariff trade deal to which was added
exemption for British residents from local jurisdiction. As a result, Brazil
rapidly became Britain’s third largest export market after the USA and Germany
with textiles dominating the trade. British commercial houses in Rio de
Janeiro, organising both importation and distribution, sustained an expatriate
population which grew rapidly to around 3 000 people, including the writer of
this letter. The close relations between Brazil and Britain may explain how in 1843 Brazil became just the second country to introduce the use of postage stamps. France delayed until 1849.
Brazil’s export economy at this time was
based on coffee and sugar produced on slave plantations and that slavery
continued for nearly four centuries until abolished in 1888 though I read that slavery in Brazil often took what for short might be called a milder form than in the Caribbean. British merchants handled these exports. Despite Britain’s post-1807 commitment to
suppressing the transatlantic slave trade, regardless of the countries
involved, Brazil continued to import slaves at scale; between 1780 and 1831 at
a Rio de Janeiro wharf known as the Cais de Valongo some 800 000 slaves were
brought ashore. In the first half of the nineteenth century, numerous artists
including the French painter Jean-Baptiste Debret and the German Johann Moritz
Rugendas produced depictions of slavery in Brazil including the arrivals at the
Cais de Valongo. Their work was reproduced in quite widely distributed
contemporary prints and is now all over the internet.
But there are no plantations or slaves in
Hugh Baird’s letter. A young man writing home from Rio to his stepmother in
Scotland is quite likely to concentrate on reassuring topics and pass over in
silence other matters. It is not that he had any censorship to fear: he handed
the letter to Captain Kelso, the Scottish master of the John Lee about
to sail from Rio, who three months later handed it in to the local post office
at Cowes on the Isle of Wight, his first port of call in Britain.
Hugh Baird cannot quite escape the style of
a business letter but his opening reference to “esteemed favors” is surely
meant as a parody which will cause his mother to smile.
I continue the story after the
transcription.
*
Transcription
Addressed to: Mrs Thomas Baird care of Mr John Moffat Tichfield
Street Kilmarnock
Datelined: Rio de Janeiro 21st December 1828 [Cowes
undated mark; Glasgow arrival postmark 8 April 1829]
My Dearest Mother
Without any of your esteemed favors to reply to I take the
opportunity by the “John Lee” Capt Kelso to address you a few lines, and am
happy to inform you that Uncle John [his step-uncle],
Thomas [his younger brother] and self are all in the enjoyment of good
health, Thomas likes his situation exceedingly and do assure you that his
conduct since his arrival has been highly pleasing to everyone, he is very
studious & attentive, and will make himself by & by a complete man of
Business, all things cannot not be learned in a day, the Language of the
Country is the most difficult thing which at first annoys a Foreigner. I have
paid considerable attention to the rudiments by this means I find as little
difficulty in conversing as in my “ain Mither tongue”, one amongst the few good
traits in the Portuguese Character, is that even hearing a person speak
ungrammatically they will never criticise were it otherwise I believe you would
find more in this place speak better. I have found them in my rambles in the
Interior very hospitable good people, but there still is a something in their
manners of rather a superficial nature, nevertheless they may mean well for all
that, in fact I have got so much accustomed to the Brazils that I would were I
to leave feel a regret, altho’ I hope that it will never be my lot to lay down
my Hulk here, but when a person of my Age after a stay of a few years in one
place, he forms his acquaintances etc and even notwithstanding the many inconveniences
he may feel during his residence a return home from it he will instantly feel;
however do not judge from this strain of writing that I should wish to make
this place my future residence, No! “there is no place like home” and
only give me wherewithal to make myself comfortable with those around me and
then I would break through all the ties of acquaintance, and spend the rest of
my days in peace in my native Country. With these ideas of my future enjoyments
my cares are soothed and only look forward to that thrice happy day, when I
shall be able to fulfil them.
The few entertainments one meets with here is to me a matter of
regret, and which would form a fund of amusement to my Correspondents at home;
a Library has been established by subscription for nearly two Years, which
seems for the present the general resort of our evening, and I am really happy
to see it so well attended and supported, being an institution so much wanted
amongst us and do know of no way in which we can better employ our leisure
time, than in instructing ourselves in the knowledge of the History of our
native Country, and of ancient as well as of modern times, the society of this
place being of such a nature that a thing of this kind is doubly to be
esteemed. The Emperor has a public library in Town to which only few have
admittance, but there the Books of which it is composed are none of the most
sought after. I hope in a short time to see this place advance in the
Bellesartes and Sciences, oh dear me!! I should rather say civilisation for
this commodity must be the first actor in the Scene, however they have much
advanced since the declaration of their Independence, liberal principles begin
to show influence among the people, however these are more than counterbalanced
by the blinded Creatures of Despotism, education has opened the eyes of the
people at home and when once it becomes general here, the minds of the good
folks will of course become more
enlightened, the education more particularly of the fair Sex is very
superficial, they are taught to study (not unlike some of your high flown Dames
of Scotland) more the external graces of the person than the improvement of the
mind, however there are always exceptions to the general rule, some few
Foreigners that have married here, seem to be very comfortable, in fact enjoy
themselves more than those that have their wives here (I mean Englishmen) an
Englishwoman in a foreign Country is a tender exotic, always homesick, making their
lives uncomfortable, however poor creatures they have reason to complain, want
of comforts and society so incompatible to the mind of an Englishman, whereas a
Brazilian Lady her heart & Soul is in the Brazils, and her wish seems to
be, to make all around her cheerful.
Capt Kelso will most probably visit Kilmarnock after a short time,
and from him you will be able to learn more particulars regarding myself and
the local news of the place; he is a very pleasant quiet man, Thomas and self
have spent several very pleasant nights with him on boards of the “John Lee”. I
trust you will write me soon were it only to say you are well.
How is our new Business prospering? I am rather [letter torn here, perhaps astonished] at the silence
of the Cummings family I think they might find time to write a few lines, I am
very punctual in writing to my correspondents, on the Contrary I rather think
some of them will not be well pleased at the Sacrifice of postage money I have
occasioned them [since postage was normally paid by the recipient]. I
should be most happy to hear from Miss Janet Moffat [his stepmother’s
younger sister, aged about seventeen], please tell her so.
I do not know how you will like this dry dish of scraps, I assure
you when I sat down to my Desk I never imagined I would have got so far on, one
subject drove hard after another, and we often find that there is no way in
which one’s mind can be better known than by the good quill.
Uncle John & Thomas join me in writing you and all friends
& acquaintances the Compliments of the approaching Season and remain
Dearest Mother Your affectionate Son
Hugh Baird
I am afraid you won’t be able to read.... If I had not taken up so much paper, Thomas would have addressed you a few lines, but as it is, he will do so by some further opportunity. The weather is now very hot, however there is seldom any sickness.
*
Hugh Baird did NOT return home; he stayed in Brazil, married a
Brazilian Maria do Carmo Cardozo in 1837, had at least four children, died
there in 1860 aged fifty-three, and was buried in Rio de Janeiro's Cemiterio
dos Ingleses. It is possible that he paid visits to his ain Mither country but
I have no evidence one way or the other. Local research conducted for me by
Vitoria Godoy de Andrade showed that Hugh Baird became prominent as a merchant,
banker (alternate director of the Banco do Brasil), representative of the
British community, and active in charitable organisations including the English
Benevolent Society.
1828
Hugh Baird
Freyre,
Gilberto The English in Brazil (2011; Portuguese original 1947)
Padraic
X. Scanlan, “A Bad Business” [ review of books about Brazilian slavery], Times
Literary Supplement, April 4 2025.
Research
in Rio de Janeiro conducted by Vitoria Godoy de Andrade.
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