0000-00-00 Mengshoels trykkemanus...

... om Jonas Wessel Crøgers (1807-1867) reise til Brasil

Niels Åge Skjelborg (1932- ) [^1] :
Det vedlagte dokumentet, filnavn "granted land" er xeroxkopier av originalen, lagd av løvblad, og lånt oss fra Nancy mot å sende det i retur.
Faktisk er det nok så dyrebart et fenomen, nemlig som selve forarbeidet til Mengshoels trykkemanus og som her er bevart.
Teksten er delvis basert på diverse opplysninger direkte fra den originale dagboken med viktige tilføyelser fra både Helle og Mengshoel selv.

News Item in a Recent Issue of Minnesota Sunday Tribune Revives Hope of a Minneapolis Family to Recover 200,000 Acres of Land Granted their Grandfather, a Norwegian Minister and Pioneer of the Norwegian Colonisation in Brazil, by Pedro II, the last American Emperor in the year 1856.

The news item referred to appeared in the Sunday tribune November 25, 1928, stating that

"Dom Pedro Orleans Braganza, last emperor of Brazil, lives the life of a European country gentleman in the estates in Petropolis, Brazil",

and that in 1892, the Brazilian goverment rescinded the act of banishment of the descendants of the former emperor and that they were permitted to return to Brazil;
that none of the royal lands grants have been confiscated by the Brazilian goverment.
The relative, a minister in the Norwegian Lutheran State Church above reffered to, who received said grant of land from Dom Pedro, II, was Jonas Wessel Cröger.
He writes a vivid description of his first meeting with the last American emperor in a diary which has been in the possession of his daughter, Mrs. Helle (redacted?), and her son A. O. Devold, residents of Minneapolis for the past fifty years.

Rev. Jonas Wessel Cröger, in the year 1854, recieved a leave of absence from the State Church and left Norway in August of the same year for Brazil.
In his diary, he tells of a stormy voyage on a small sailing ship which took him to Hamburg, Germany, and from there he set sail for South America on the 20th day of October, 1855, arriving at the little town of Sao Francisco, Brazil, one month and one day later.
He describes the accomodations on the boat as the most primitive, the colonists nearly aøø German, carrying their own water supply and vinegar, and deaths were daily occurences.
He officiated as minister at funerals aboard the boat and states that he baptized a child born on the voyage on the 16th day of November, 1854.
At Sao Francisco, Brazil, he met one Porgang, a leading merchant of that city, and the German consul and Baron Aube.

At first he purchased outright 500 "morgan" of land in the colony Joinville near the river Cabadon.
The colony where he first situated was on the estates of the Prince of Joinville, in the Province of Santa Caterina, in Southern Brazil, lands which the prince had acquired by marriage with a Brazilian princess.
The prince had set aside thousands of "morgans" of land for colonizations purposes.
This colonization was handled by the firm of Chr. Malte Schroider and Company, of Hamburg, Germany.
Slaves were emplyed to till the land.

After a short visit, he left Joinville for Sao Francisco and in January, the 5th, 1856, left Sao Francisco for Rio de Janeiro to seek audience with Emperor Dom Pedro II.

The following from his diary tells of the splendors of the last American emperor.
He arrived in time for the opening of the chambers in Rio.

"Outside of the senate building was stationed a numerous and gaudy horse guard in red uniforms.
It took more than the fixed time before at length the emperor arrived.
Meanwhile, there passed a long procession of carriages occupied by high officials, semators, nobles and notables, most of them arrayed in uniforms so completely bedecked with gold embroidery that they (the uniforms) would have been stood by themselves had they been placed empty on the ground.
The senators were all in bronze shoes, red stockings and black spacious silk cloaks with broad turned down collars, not unlike the robe of an English clergyman.

Also there rode past a few ladies, all stuffy and well-

Mangler side(r)!

-tors had each a little son with them.

At length, the arrival of His Majesty was heralded by a roar of cannon immediately followed by a strong detachment of elegant cavalrymen galloping up on splendid hosrses and arrayed in bright red uniforms.
They made a fearful tumult among the dense, surging populace.
Next passed a gaudy carriage drawn by six mules and surrounded by a riding host of lacqueys in liveries covered with silver embroidery both on front and behind.
This was the Minister of Interior.
Right after his retinue came another carriage, imposing in splendour and accompanied by couriers to the right and the left, and riding escorts before and behind.

"Is this the empror?" I queried.
"No", I was told.
"This is the Foreign Minister."

The appeared a very large and shining equipage, also drawn by six mules and surrounded by a great number of hard breathing runners carrying halberds and attired in gray old-fashioned liveries, likewise richly decorated with silver.
Both in front and in back on the carriage stood gorgeously attired lacqueys with hasts surmounted by towering white or grey plumes.

"This must be the emperor, however?" I asked.
"No," was the answer.
"This is the Minister of Finance."

And thus it went on for a long time, I repeatedly taking one or other more that usually glorious pageant for that of the emperor himself, only to find that it was some minister's retinue.
There followed in incessant successoin of gorgeous equipages, swaying plumes, shining halberds, glaring swords, glittering liveries, galloping mules, embroidered lacqueys, swift runners, dignified ministers - befire His Majesty hove in sight.

At last, an extraordinarily large and magnificent carriage drove up behind a team of eight white mules and was follwoed by no less extraordinarily grand retinue.
The halberds and sabres of the imposing escort threw lightning flashes in the sunloght; gold and silver glittered, white plumes waved, trumpets blared, military salute orders thundered.
This was Her Majesty, the empress, with her court ladies, coming to attend the solemn opening of tje lawmaking assembly of the vast empire.
She is said to be a most goodhearted and lovely woman.

And a few minutes later, His Majesty arrived, his huge equipage drawn by eight superb stallions.
A grand-looking forerider led the pageant, a great host of cavalry sped forward past him; a considerable mass of armed lacqueys held places on the front, rear and sides of the car and several esquadrons of horsemen followed the imperial equipage.

On the inside of the car the emperor was sitting alone, blonde, handsome, blue-eyed and young-looking, septre in hand, and arrayed in the imperial robes.

As soon as he had passed, I hurried home to my lodging.
I had beheld more splendor that I cared for."

In his message to the Chambers, Emperor Don Pedro had energetically laid stress on the desirability of colonization, and I had interviews with several colonization promoters who had closed very adventageous contracts with the government.
Among those were the German Doctor Blumeanau with whom I frequently met at Herr Kohler's and whose writings on South Brazil I had read already before leaving Kristiania.
He had founded the German colony Blumeanau, which borders on Joinville.

Rev. Cröger's diary the goes on to relate his audience with the emperor at the reception at the royal palace at Botafoga, his introduction to the Minister of Interior, Senhor Pereira, and his consultation with him, the emperor and the secretary of colonization for the Brazilian government, Filazarao, and the grant of land given in his own name of 200,000 acres along the River Cabaton in Joinville and near the German settlement of Blumeneau, the be set aside and used exclusively for settlement of Norwegian emigrants.

The diary then goes on to state of his journey to Montevideo where he officiated for a time as a Lutheran minister in the German congregation, of his contemplated trip to Buenos Ayres, but here he was informed Rosa, the dictator, had instituted a reign of terror and those who did not adhere to his policies and who were found without a red ribbon in their buttonhole where hailed out into the public square and executed.

In Parana and Uruguay, the blood thirsty Urguisa ruled with a hand of iron.
Bloody revolutions followed one another.

Colonization on a large scale dreamed of by Rev. Jonas Wessel Cröger never materialized, the climate, the wide spread use of the slave and peon labor and the discouragement he met with raising capital effected his health so after a sojourn of more that three years, he returned to Norway to resume his pastorate at the church.

The land grants, however, the 200,000 acres and 500 acres in Southern Brazil were never disposed of.
The recent news from Brazil says that all government grants made by Dom Pedro II and those held in his own name had never been confiscated ny the Brazilian government, raises hope in families on both sides of the ocean to eventually recover possession of said lands.
Adjacent to this grant of land - practically all the wilderness in the 1850's and 1860's - now lies the city of Petropolis, which was once a royal "Fazenda" and is now proseperous town and sourrounding farm lands with 70,000 inhabitants.

[^1]: Niels Åge Skjelborg (1932- ) - e-post 2015-01-22 til Tor Rafsol Løseth (1963- )