URBAN DEVELOPMENT IN MACAO AND DEMÉTRIO CINATTI'S MAP (1881)
as well as the unfortunate consequences that befell him due to its excellence

In the gallery of worthy characters who have valiantly fought to enable Macao to move forward and evolve from its chaotic and unhealthy mediaeval state towards another one that is more wholesome and modern, the impressive figure of Demétrio Cinatti stands out among the rest. From the lowly rank of second naval lieutenant, he was promoted to first lieutenant on the 5th of June 1884, rising to become Captain of the Ports of the territory of Macao, a post in which he performed exceptionally well during the short period between the 12th of November 1878 and the 23rd of March 1885.

Although immortalized by an avenue and an alley in Macao, his name is virtually unknown and when mentioned, almost no-one is aware of who he was, what he did and the reason that he has been honoured with a local place-name.

However, most of the development of Macao after his time owed a great deal -its morphology and most of its urban layout, its architectural precepts, public hygiene and safety systems, landscaping, external communication methods, meteorological services, etc.- to the efforts, competence and dedication of the formidable team brought together by this great Portuguese figure of Italian descent, together with Constantino José de Brito, engineer and Director of Public Works in Macao, and Lúcio Augusto da Silva, Head of Health Services. The Governor of Macao, Joaquim José da Graça, had the good fortune to have within his administrative system some employees with exceptional qualities and talents rarely equalled in Macao. These men were appointed to several committees that were formed with the aim of analyzing existing (or non-existing) infrastructures as well as outlining the characteristics and limits of Macao's resources. Charged with identifying local problems and their possible solutions, they far exceeded their mission, and submitted studies that comprised much more than just recording and compiling a database, to be put away in a drawer and forgotten. With a truly remarkable enthusiasm and sense of duty they drew up plans of action, principles for developing and ordering the city that were very much pioneering schemes at that time, in advance of similar concepts that were applied later by the great planners of the European and American urban and population centres of the 20th century.

The high quality of research carried out, and the thoughtful conclusions, strategies and recommendations proposed in the various reports, opinions and studies contributed greatly to the map that resulted from the first rigorous survey of the peninsula and city of Macao. This survey was carried out on-site by the second naval lieutenant, Demétrio Cinatti, and completed in 1881.

The rigour and precision with which the survey was carried out not only enabled valuable knowledge to be gained about Macao at that time -such as information about its resources and potential for development - but it also pinpointed the foci of decay and malaise, the factors contributing to the obstruction and constraint of growth, and the limitations and obstacles generated by geographical, hydrographical, marine and fluvial features in the area where the territory was located.

In devising a strategy of intervention and planning for urban expansion, this map became the most precious of available tools to the departments responsible for the city's administration, and also for the private forces that had a common interest in turning Macao once again into the prosperous, sophisticated, cultured and influential city it had been in the past, rivalling yet complementing neighbouring Hong Kong.

It had become essential for the city to have a complete and accurate register, for which a map of Macao, with its roads, public and private properties, contours and geographical features correctly delineated and scaled, was a basic tool.

Perhaps it was the absence of an exact and accurate plan that prevented one committee appointed by Provincial Order No. 10, dated 26th of January 1877, in replacement of another committee that had been appointed by an order dated 4th of February 1875, from completing the work of measuring and ascertain the boundaries of land leased to the Exchequer. In any case, on the 16th of December 1882, Governor Joaquim José da Graça appointed yet another committee, issuing Order No. 102 stating that it was "... of absolute necessity that the register of the city should be completed in as short a time as possible, observing compliance with the instructions attached to the aforesaid order dated 26th of January 1877".

It should be noted that after the 4th of February 1875, the date of the appointment of the first committee, the formation of a Cadastral Survey Committee became an annual event, with the exception of 1876 and 1880 - but it took place twice in 1879 to compensate. Such committees were formed on the 2nd of January 1877 (Order No. 10), the 20th of September 1878 (Order No. 61), the 1st of October 1879 (Order Nos. 121 and 122), the 11th of January 1881 (Order No. 10) and finally on the 16th of December 1882 (Order No. 102). It was certainly not because of a lack of official orders and respective committees that the work of the cadastral survey was delayed. Over time, the completion of its work became more difficult, as each committee failed to respond to one of the most urgent requirements for the planning, progress, and controlled and harmonious development of the territory.

Clearly the successive failures of the Cadastral Survey Committee could only be explained by the absence of a true and accurate topographical and cartographic survey of the city and its neighbouring areas. "The city" was understood as comprising the area between the walls to the north and south, and the "neighbouring areas" included the land between the north walls and the Portas do Cerco, areas containing flood plains, marshes, five Chinese villages, a canal, several hills, three forts, an embryonic road network and an island, in addition to cemeteries and graves scattered all over the place that needed to be removed, but which had already cost the head -literally - of one Governor1.

Thanks to the map prepared by Demétrio Cinatti, remarkable for the rigour and precision with which it was prepared, the work of the Committee could have moved forward more quickly. However, certain problems of land ownership in the former "no-man's land" - the buffer zone located between the Portas do Cerco and the north wall - had not been properly appreciated at the time, and decades later caused serious headaches for successive Administrations and several Governors2.

The information collected by Demétrio Cinatti and noted on his map was vital as a support structure for the preparation of improvement and infrastructure projects, for schemes to expand the area of the territory by means of land reclamation, and as a point of reference for the preparation of maps used for a wide variety of purposes.

Historically and archeologically, this map was extremely valuable because it recorded much of 18^thcentury Macao, in addition to areas surviving from the 16^th and 17^th centuries. Its precision went as far as detailing the plans of the most notable buildings, which were reproduced with considerable rigour despite their scale. It should be mentioned that in conjunction with the 1905 map prepared by Baron Carlos Cadoro, Cinatti's map is the sole source of information on this phase in the city's history, because the Bomparto Fortress was altered so that its outline as represented on the map drawn by Lieutenant Carlos Julião in 1775 was practically one half, both in area and configuration, of the outline shown on Cinatti's map. This led to the conclusion that between 1775 and 1881 the fortress had undergone major alterations: the designer responsible for the work had virtually duplicated the existing structure in an addition that was practically the mirror image of the original, making the plan of this fortification more symmetrical and regular3. (The contours of the fortress were retouched to make them more visible, as the fortress is almost invisible on the original microphotograph)4.

Lamentably, but in keeping with the traditional neglect and indifference with which the Portuguese treat their documents, monuments and testimonies to their history, this map which in 1976 was handed personally by the author of this article to staff at the Luís de Camões Museum, was lost, destroyed or removed by persons unknown; today it is not to be found in the place where it should have been kept, and none of the organizations contacted have been able to provide information on its whereabouts; only two small and very poor photographs remain in the Macao Historical Archives - of which the negatives have been thrown away - as well as an even worse micro film copy.

Demétrio's worthy achievement did not pass unnoticed by the kingdom's highest entities, however, and in accordance with a law passed in April 1882, he was invested with the title of Knight of the "ancient, most noble and illustrious Order of São Tiago of scientific, literary and artistic merit", an honour conferred on him for his "worthiness, manifested not only in the survey of the map of the port of Macao5 but also because of having executed there statistical works relating to navigation and trade, and established the meteorological observation service". By means of this official communication, Cinatti's map was acknowledged as being of sufficient importance to award its author one of the most prestigious accolades of the Kingdom of Portugal; yet one hundred years later this did not prevent the map from being lost, perhaps destroyed forever. And this time, without endless blame being heaped on the activities of the termite, that great discoverer of carelessness and negligence amalgamated in an amorphous mass of idle ignorance that has created so many holes in the great history of the great Lusitanian nation, a history, which as a result of narrow-mindedness and lack of pride on the part of some of its sons, is becoming increasingly small, obscure, and empty,.... with even more holes.

As recorded in the commendation accompanying the award of the insignia of the Order of São Tiago, Demétrio Cinatti was also the first to keep records of meteorological observation, and the first to integrate Macao into the network of information exchange between meteorological stations in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Manila, Calcutta, Coimbra, Lisbon and at the Lisbon Geographical Society.

Again it was Demétrio Cinatti who anticipated the catastrophic effect that the siltation of the Inner Harbour would have on Macao. In the face of the passive lack of awareness of the administrative authorities, he raised the alarm in 1881.

As Captain of the Ports of Macao, Cinatti was in the ideal position to observe the progressive sedimentation of the waterways that afforded access to navigation; he embarked on a programme of probing, measuring, gathering hydrographic details, identifying sea and river currents, studying the effects of the ebb and flow of tides on the formation of sandbanks, and the consequences of land fills carried out to modify the impact of the sediment carried by the Pearl River - data that provided an enormous mass of detail, enabling Demétrio Cinatti to discover and understand, with all the precision that the primitive devices and instruments at his disposal permitted, the phenomena, causes and effects of siltation and erosion that affected the coasts of Macao and surrounding waters.

Following his in-depth study, and particularly his warning to the authorities that if the siltation of the Inner Harbour continued at its present rate, after seventeen years it would be completely dry at low tide, Cinatti's conclusions resonated in Lisbon and an engineer, Adolfo Loureiro, was charged with designing a port for Macao.

The engineer journeyed to Macao and despite encountering all kinds of difficulties put in his way by the local Chinese authorities, managed to complete his study, which was confined to the waters around Macao and the islands of Taipa and Dom João which, curiously, he declared to be Portuguese possessions - "Under these circumstances I was led to give up my attempt and to modify and restrict my study plan which had to be limited to the Portuguese waters around Macao and the islands of Taipa and Dom João, which were also ours" (Quoted in his account, "The Port of Macao" included by the Director of Public Works, José Maria de Sousa e Horta, in his report dated 1st of July 1886).

In his account, Adolfo Loureiro confirms Demétrio Cinatti's diagnosis, stating... "It is obvious, therefore, that in order to avoid this ill, which by gradually increasing could lead to the total extinction of the colony...". As a result of his analysis and recommendations, the government began a vast programme of dredging, dykes, earthworks, sea-walls and channels that continued until 1926 when the main infrastructures of the outer port were completed. The inauguration was not attended by Cinatti, although he had been the first to start rolling the small snowball that developed into Macao's largest project up until that time, for he had died in 1921. But his death spared him the sadness of witnessing the degradation of a worthy idea during its execution, as described by the Governor, Álvaro de Melo Machado in his book, "Coisas de Macau"(Affairs of Macao), on page 54: "Macao waited until 1911 for the work planned to actually take place, just as in former times they had waited for King Sebastian, achieving nothing but spending money on engineers, using old and almost useless material, or new material lacking in application, in order to justify the presence of technical staff and the high hopes to which this had led. A study commission, nicknamed "the Creche", became famous for employing cavalry and infantry officers and many other individuals who were paid relatively large sums of money in order to carry out hydrographic research. Despite all this, nothing was done after thirty years of expense". Cinatti would have been even more disappointed if he had learned that the port on which so many high hopes had been pinned, the expected rival to Hong Kong, was to be invaded by mud a few years later and the ships that had hoped to use it could be seen, as Monsignor Teixeira wrote on this subject, only through a telescope.

In the simplistic conception of those times, it was rare to take account of the need for the maintenance without which the deterioration of projects - which began as soon as they had were completed - became progressively worse until they reached a point of complete dilapidation. Alerting those responsible to such facts was not a wise thing to do, as this created animosity and rancour. Thus, like many exceptions to the mediocrity of the bureaucracy, Demétrio Cinatti also had to suffer bitter hostility and niggardly attacks - the price to be paid by all those imbued with qualities and talents greater than the norm - provoked by the envy and jealousy awakened in small and limited souls, which, like puppies that are unable to resist the temptation of chasing and barking at cars that pass in front of their snouts, also try to bite the heels of those whom they consider to be superiors.

However, being from a different sort of family, Demétrio Cinatti would perhaps not have been surprised by the underhanded treatment inflicted upon him by boorish people with base mentalities, being doubtless accustomed to witnessing frequent manifestations of intellectual, mental and cerebral inferiority. In fact, Demétrio Cinatti was the grandson of Luís Cinatti, a celebrated Italian painter and architect, son of José Cinatti, also a famous architect, set designer and painter who was born in Sienna in 1808 and died on the 23rd of September 1879 in Lisbon, a city where he established a studio together with Aquiles Rambois after marrying Dona Maria Sara Rivolti Cinatti. In 1836 Cinatti and Rambois were commissioned by António Lodi to undertake all the set designs for the São Carlos Theatre. The quality of their architecture was highly appreciated and they came to be regarded as the best architects and set designers working in Portugal at the time; their client list soon began to read like a roll of the wealthiest and most aristocratic families in the kingdom. Their clients included Queen Maria Ⅱ and King Luís (for the decoration of the main rooms and salons of the Necessidades Palace) as well as the Baron of Quintela (for the Quinta das Laranjeiras), the 1^st Duke of Palmela (for the decoration of the Calhariz Palace and gardens in Sesimbra, the palace of the same name in Lisbon, and family tombs in the Prazeres Cemetery), and the Count of Farrobo (for scenery and renovation of the São Carlos Theatre).

They were also commissioned to complete building works at the Belém Palace; Cinatti designed the monument in the Trindade Coelho Square, and also painted the medallions in the Saxe Room at the Ajuda Palace for Queen Maria Pia. Because of the care with which he supervised the conservation work on the Roman temple in Évora - he did not allow it to be spoiled by the slightest mutilation or alteration - in 1867 the city awarded him a commemorative gold medal for this and other works he had undertaken. In 1884, dead but not forgotten, they erected a monument to him in the form of a bust by Simões de Almeida as a poetic and appropriate homage to that most talented restorer of monuments. Amongst the numerous buildings he designed in Lisbon, the most outstanding is the mansion he created for the House of Bragança in Rua António Maria Cardoso, which later became the Brazilian Embassy and then the headquarters of the PIDE, the infamous and brutal police during the Salazar regime, now remembered with scorn and hatred.

The qualities that distinguished the elder Cinatti in the society in which he lived and worked were inherited by his son, Demétrio, who learned at his father's knee the importance of personal and professional integrity as well as a sense of responsibility and duty, the use of organized work methods and of careful planning and coordination, the importance of the individual in the evolution and progress of human communities, and all the precepts that turn a human being into a civilized person who is well-adjusted to the society in which he lives and works, in order to contribute to the general good and progress as a whole.

But one of the constants in human societies is the sacrifice of their best elements on the altar of envy and ambition; and another is the jealousy, hostility and irrational rage that fame, talent and greatness of spirit provoke in the sea of mediocrity around them. Indeed, José Cinatti and his son Demétrio were no exception to that universal law, proven countless times since the dawn of the human race, according to which they had to suffer its effects and consequent punishments, to castigate their genius and talent.

Consequently, the Government Secretary-General, the university graduate José Alberto Homem Corte-Real, who had taken on the functions of interim Governor of Macao while Governor Joaquim José da Graça embarked on a diplomatic mission to Japan, took advantage of the situation to settle accounts - relatively recent accounts - with Demétrio Cinatti, accounts connected with the fact that the latter had dared to merit the position of Knight of Order of São Tiago, something that greatly offended and vexed the graduate Deputy Governor, Corte-Real.

On the 28th of July 1882, almost one month after Demétrio Cinatti's investiture as a Knight of the Order of São Tiago was published in Provincial Bulletin No. 25, dated 24th of June 1882, the Deputy Governor ordered the proclamation of an Order to the Armed Forces, worded as follows:

"In the absence of and on behalf of the Governor of this Province, the Secretary-General of the Government determines and orders the proclamation of the following:

"That as Captain of the Ports, Demétrio Cinatti, has proceeded in an irregular and malicious manner in relation to the higher authority of the province, with the intention of taking some cartridges stored in the government's store rooms; and having on several occasions proceeded in a similar manner during the absence of His Excellency the Governor from this province, in such a way as to appear to want to give the impression, whenever the occasion permits, that he does not acknowledge the authority that is legally constituted, albeit for the interim; that same officer is advised that he is not excused from fulfilling any of the duties, whether written or unwritten, that he has been fulfilling in the course of his service. Furthermore, it is with regret that we have been obliged to reprimand the conduct of the said Captain of the Ports in this way, but as mild and indirect methods have been used to warn him of his mistaken course of action in seeking to disregard his superior, the duties imposed by the discipline and the proprieties of public service require more severe methods in order to make him understand the liability incurred and the consequences, from which he is not exempt, regardless of who is governing."

The imbecility of this reprimand is self-evident. The "injured" party is acting as a judge and is also a civilian who, at the time he assumed command - as a result of a phenomenon that is very Lusitanian - instantly turned himself into an expert on locker-rooms and cartridges; he did not even describe the irregular and malicious way in which Cinatti had been treated. The judge-accuser was not sure of the defendant's intentions but it merely seemed that he had refused to acknowledge his authority as a College-Graduate Deputy Governor with extra bowing and scraping. And so on and so forth, etc.

It is difficult to understand how a crackpot of the calibre of this college graduate hoped to gain the respect of staff by berating their qualities in the pages of the Provincial Bulletin; or how his position of Deputy Governor would warrant such obsequious and subservient treatment, for the norm in cases of breach of discipline determined that the perpetrators should be judged by a Council of War. But perhaps the graduate Governor, as a civilian in a position of military command, did not know this and was not told by any of his subordinates on the General Staff; therefore Demétrio Cinatti, being in a position of someone who should have had nothing to fear, was brought before the Council of War.

This ridiculous situation, albeit frequent in the history of Portugal's petty dictators for whom virtue, competence and dedication were crimes to be punished, whilst wickedness, flattery, vanity and scheming lies were to be rewarded, resulted from the high quality of work and admiration that derived from the intellectual superiority and intelligence of Demétrio Cinatti, reflected in all the tasks for which he was responsible. One such task, which brought him the most popularity and honour, was the execution of the first rigorous survey of the Macao peninsula in 1881, an achievement that also merited a commendation from the prestigious Geographical Society of Lisbon, which appointed him a representative member.

If he had carried out a mediocre assignment, the graduate Mr. Corte-Real would not have become so angry; this partly explains why Portugal was such a backward country at that time, as the mentality of the graduate was fairly widespread and a dominant feature of the ruling classes in those days.

Cinatti wrote a petition dated 7th of August 1882, appealing to the Council of War in order to avenge his honour. He lodged it immediately after the return of the Governor on the 6th of August 1882. In it, he who had served the Portuguese nation since the 12th of November 1868 stated: "That he has been serving in this province for almost four years, firstly under the command of your Most Worthy Predecessor (the Governor), by whom the zeal and dedication of the defendant in public service was commended in Order No. 122 dated 1st of October 1789; afterwards on the orders of the Most Excellent Governmental Council, which, in an official letter from the Government Secretariat, No. 665, dated 18th of November 1879, considered it appropriate to praise the initiative of the defendant for his public service; and finally by Your Excellency... He was also commended by an order of the Armed Forces, No. 37, dated 19th of October 1881... As an officer of the garrison of the vessels of the Chinese Naval Station, the defendant was commended for similar reasons by order of the Armed Forces of this Province, No. 29, dated 29th of September 1874, and No. 12, dated 12th of June 1875.

"The defendant, Your Excellency, is the son of a foreign artist who came to Portugal where he lived for forty-two years, a country which he loved as much as the one where had been born, which was honoured because one of its sons paid the tribute of blood to the country he had adopted, an adoptive country to which he sacrificed himself, loved and served to such a degree, that not only was he awarded many honours in his lifetime by royal goodwill, but after his death the noble city of Évora, which when he was alive had accorded him many special honours, erected a monument to his memory in the city itself; because this artist who was imbued with goodness as standard, professed the principles of loving and serving, being a slave to honour, endeavour, duty and morality.

"It was on these principles that the defendant was brought up and to which he owes the titles he has obtained. Had he been a military man, they would have given him the right, had he so requested, to the corroborative medals for good service and exemplary conduct.

"The defendant received in Macao an award from an official society that had been established in the interests of science and the nation, presided over by the noble Minister of the Navy, an award that was conferred on him by a decision passed at the meeting on the 15th of May of this year, a public meeting that unanimously recorded in the respective act a vote of commendation for the defendant, awarded for reasons of dedication and patriotism, and for other reasons that the defendant has not transcribed, manifested as being in the national interest; at the same time as the official gazette of Macao published the favour of an honourable distinction on the basis of the commendation conferred on the defendant by His Majesty's Government, the former was censured by means of an official communication from the Government Secretariat No. 279, dated 3rd of May of this year, for a most serious infringement of discipline by manifest disrespect, and for multiple offenses, leading to conflict."

But the confidence of the Governor, Joaquim José da Graça, in the judgement and sense of justice and honour of his collegiate Secretary was so uncertain that despite the office and privileges that he had conferred on him publicly as a manifestation of confidence in his adroitness and shrewdness, in private he shrank from attempting to uncover the truth. On 11th of August 1882 the Governor rejected Cinatti's petition, lest the Council of War discover the whole sordid truth so that both of those responsible would emerge tarnished, as indeed they did later on.

It is not true that "history does not extol the weak"; the governor's shameful action in compounding the furious wrath and shameless cowardice with which his officer turned on an honest man and distinguished soldier in an act of disgraceful persecution, merely reveals the weakness of character of some of those in authority who through the centuries - with certain most honourable exceptions - not only were incapable of consolidating and furthering the prosperity of the immense Portuguese Empire, but became part of the history that had not been written, precisely by losing it. It is a history in which the works of our great figures have been undone by the petty actions of those who came after them.

However, the shameless and dishonest decision taken by the governor, Joaquim José da Graça, displayed his prejudice and scorn for justice, which was in keeping with his irresponsible and factious style of government. After the first official communications that he issued, he had scarcely resumed the governorship of Macao on the 8th of August 1882 when he commended and supported his graduate officer in Provincial Bulletin No. 31, stating as follows:

"The Governor of the Province of Macao and Timor and their dependencies, as envoy extraordinary and representative invested with full powers to act on behalf of His Most Faithful Majesty in the courts of China, Japan and Siam, determines as follows:

"Having returned to the seat of government of the province, from which I had been absent in order to carry out a mission for the diplomatic service in the Japanese Empire, it was appropriate that, by means of the notice dated 27th of April last, pursuant to the terms of Article 8 of the Decree dated 1st of December 1869, I should release from the functions he was fulfilling, the Secretary-General of the Government, the college graduate José Alberto Homem da Cunha Corte Real, who had carried out those functions with the zeal, intelligence and prudence that he has always demonstrated in acts of public service, and I declare that during the period of more than three months he maintained the appropriate dignity; I consider him to be worthy of praise for the administrative and military orders he executed and with which he ensured compliance on my behalf, and hereby approve these orders (the author's emphasis).

"The authorities responsible for the execution of this declaration have understood and complied with it.

"Palace of the Government of Macao, 8th of August 1882.

"The Governor of the Province and Minister having full powers to act on behalf of His Most Faithful Majesty in China, Japan and Siam, Joaquim José da Graça."

Now that he already had something in hand, "the envoy extraordinary and minister invested with full powers to act on behalf of His Most Faithful Majesty in the courts of China, Japan and Siam" and also Governor of the Province of Macao and Timor and their dependencies, displayed a sense of justice, dignity and State that were very much more truncated and atrophied than the sum of all his titles and attributions, by taking the opportunity at the same stroke of the pen to reject the petition that Demétrio Cinatti had submitted on the previous day, 7th of August, for judgement by the Council of War regarding the offences of which he stood accused. This was in any case an unusual petition, since no career officer relishes the prospect of appearing before a Court Martial.

It is difficult to understand how an individual exercising the functions of governor, upon accepting a petition from one of the most important members on his governmental, administrative and military staff- namely his Captain of the Ports and Commandant of the Sea Police, as the Marine Police were also known in those days - regarding a serious matter in which his actions and behaviour in relation to the post of governor were "put in doubt", so that this worthy bureaucrat found him to be deserving of an admonishment that was not restricted to the military sector but (so that his humiliation should be more complete) was also published in the official pages of the Provincial Bulletin, could not only remain indifferent to the fact that the inept complaint lodged by the graduate Secretary-General was inclined to undermine the moral strength of the presumed offender, who was still responsible for imposing discipline on his subordinates, as well as to diminish the confidence of the men under his command as a military leader and government employee, but also refuse to attempt to discover the truth, instead unjustly and thoughtlessly rejecting out of hand the petition lodged by Demétrio Cinatti.

If Cinatti's actions had been so injurious as to warrant a public and humiliating admonishment, then logic and common sense, attributes without which a chief cannot be considered to be a just, wise and competent leader, demand that the accused should be punished severely, dismissed from office and ordered back to Portugal, but only after having received a fair trial and the opportunity to state his version of events.

On the other hand, if the defendant had been found innocent of the accusation, his accuser, who in this case was also the agent of his punishment, would have to suffer the consequences of his ill-founded accusation, his abuse of authority and his crime of slander. None of this happened. In a decision that was typical of leaders who do not know how to lead, saying neither yes nor no, neither meat nor fish, neither hot nor cold, neither wet nor dry, Mr. Joaquim José da Graça stopped the proceedings half-way. Having approved all the decisions and actions carried out by the Secretary-General on his behalf, actions that had even earned him a commendation, he knew that had the investigation procedure not been stopped, the stains of his odious prejudice and the discrediting of his capacity for judgement that the Council of War could have exposed, would have fatally fallen on the sackcloth of his personal prestige and reputation. The solution to this problem was therefore easy: there would be no Council of War, because if the implications of the whining complaints by the Secretary-General in the Bulletin were true, the Council would have been convened independently of Demétrio Cinatti's petition. As for the potential embarrassment that this petition could have caused him, the matter was resolved when he rejected it within twenty-four hours of its having been submitted, without even hearing the reasons that led Cinatti to submit it. Mr. Joaquim José da Graça did not stop at this highly specious notion of the concept of justice. In order to manifest his confidence in his college graduate and his notions of how to best govern the entire territory, one week later he proposed to the Minister and Secretary of State for Naval and Overseas Affairs that Corte Real should be awarded the Insignia of the Military Order of Nossa Senhora da Conceição de Villa Viçosa. This proposal was based on the "merits and qualities of the candidate and his zeal and dedication to the service for which he is responsible" - which could also have been said of the cleaning-lady - but without referring to any actual achievements. Putting a lid on the matter in that way, Joaquim José da Graça thought he had left his Captain of the Ports watching the ships go by; but here his plan backfired... and instead he ended up shooting himself, as the saying goes, in the foot. Demétrio did not give up, although he had to wait nine more months for Mr. Joaquim José da Graça to be replaced by another governor who was more just and had a better notion of honour and integrity. Joaquim José da Graça left Macao on the 24th of March 1883 and the Council of War was convened immediately to pass judgement:

"It is shown by means of these documents that the Second Lieutenant of the fleet, Demétrio Cinatti, is seeking to defend himself against the censures and reprimands contained in the official letter from the Secretary to the Governor of the Province, No. 279, dated 25th of May, and No. 439, dated 4th of August last year, in the extraordinary order published in the Official Bulletin dated 22nd of June, in Order No. 29 to the Armed Forces, dated 28th of July, and in the report by the Secretary-General dated 8th of August of the same year.

"Furthermore, it is shown that the defendant is basing his claim on the allegation of several facts contained in the inquiry on folio.

"It is also shown that the defendant has produced witnesses attesting to the alleged facts and has submitted several documents, requesting that they be appended to the proceedings, which have been rejected.

"In view of the corpus delicti, the evidence contained in the documents on folio... and that resulting from the depositions on folio, the council pronounces unanimously that in the defendant's conduct towards the Secretary-General of the government of this Province, during the period in which he served as Governor, there was no transgression of discipline and therefore the defendant's conduct is pronounced blameless.

"Macao, chamber of sessions held by the Council of War, 19th of April 1883. - The Judge, Vicente Saturnino Pereira. - António Joaquim Garcia, Chairman Colonel. - Francisco Pereira Sardinha, Captain. - Caetano Maria Dias Azedo, Captain with voting rights. - Belisario de Saavedra Prado e Themes, Captain of the 1st Battalion. -Adriano Augusto do Rego, Voting Lieutenant. - José Maria Esteves, Lieutenant with voting rights. - I, José Victoriano, Prosecuting Lieutenant, was present."

It should be noted that this judgement was published in the Provincial Bulletin only on the 23rd of June 1883. Therefore the Secretary-General, Corte-Real, had only a few days in which to suffer a red face before returning to Portugal, a shame which Joaquim Jose da Graça escaped by having left the territory in time.

On 22nd of April 1883 the new Governor, Thomaz de Sousa Rosa, disembarked. With his arrival, the graduate Jose Alberto Homem (meaning "Man", a most unsuitable name) Corte-Real was also replaced and ended his fifteen minutes (symbolically, à la Andy Warhol) of fame and power as a government officer and Secretary-General. When they pulled the plug on him (figuratively), the wretched little man must certainly have trembled, resigned himself, danced a few little waltz steps, and saluted, only to be flushed away down the pipes of history from which he should never have emerged. On the occasion of the transition speech by the government to the new governor, he was acknowledged, but from the wrong side, when at a certain point the speaker commented - "... it is sometimes the case that the nobility of character of the honest man who governs according to the law and the inspiration of his own conscience, is attacked by a legion of hatred, resentment and ill-will, that cause one's soul to faint and overcome one's constancy in the struggle against disappointment" (Bulletin of the Province of Macao and Timor, No. 17, dated 28th of April 1831), but it must have been sheer torture for him to hear the new Governor promise - "... of my administration, that will have as a strict norm the most rigorous compliance with the laws and the most impartial distribution of justice ".

And the new governor kept his promise. On the 15th of June 1883 a decision was issued by the council of state fully exonerating Demétrio Cinatti; this was also published in the Bulletin of the Province of Macao and Timor No. 25, dated 23rd of June 1883. Those previously in power were, however, not congratulated on their crapulent decisions.

The decision indirectly criticized and drew attention to the fact that the previous governor had "fully approved the orders of civil and military administration that the government's Secretary-General issued and had carried out on behalf of the governor" (in italics in the original) and, as he had taken responsibility for those same orders, that he considered it appropriate "to praise the said Secretary-General for the zeal, intelligence and prudence with which he carried out the senior functions of the administration during his absence",as may be seen from Order No. 73 dated 8th of August 1882.

The decision, which is best analyzed by the reader, is as follows:

"Following consultation, the tribunal of justice agrees:

"The defendant Demétrio Cinatti, Second Naval Lieutenant, Captain of the Port and Commandant of the Marine Police of Macao, was publicly and officially accused by the Secretary-General of the government of this province, in the absence and on behalf of the governor, of committing misdeeds and irregularities in the exercise of his functions, of harbouring hostile inclinations and malicious intent, of deliberately aiming to harm and undermine the authority that was temporarily governing the province, whose orders were said to have been ignored by him, of causing unlawful conflict and disturbing the harmony and good order that should be maintained in official relations, and of protecting the private interests that prejudiced the Treasury, to the detriment of the public service, as shown in Order No. 62 dated 28th of May 1882, the civil department order dated 22nd of July, the Order No. 29, dated 28th of July, to the armed forces, and Official Letters Nos. 279, dated 25th of May, and 49, dated 5th of August of the same year;

"It is likewise shown on folio 7 and subsequent folios of these documents that in the official report by the interim administration of the Secretary-General of the government, prepared by him in order to be submitted to the respective governor of the province upon his return from his voyage to Japan, these and other misdeeds and irregularities were reported, stating that the conduct of the defendant was inappropriate and malicious vis-à-vis the higher authorities represented by the said Secretary-General whom, it is said, he sought to disregard deliberately and in a premeditated fashion; in addition [the defendant stands accused of] being contumacious and repeatedly acting disobediently, as well as of other infringements of discipline, of claiming power as an official agent in charge of particular matters to the detriment of the Treasury and of abusing his rank of Captain of the Port in order to do favours for friends, using vessels of the Port Authority as if they were his own, etc.

"It is shown furthermore that the Governor of the province, having reassumed the authority of his office, fully approved the orders of civil and military administration that the Secretary-General of the government issued and had carried out on behalf of the Governor, and as he had taken responsibility for those same orders, he considered it appropriate to praise the said Secretary-General for the zeal, intelligence and prudence with which he carried out the senior functions of the administration during his absence, as may be seen from Order No. 73 dated 8th of August 18826.

"The misdeeds and irregularities attributed to the defendant in his dual role as naval officer and head of department are serious and have harmful effects and consequences. In public life in general, and the armed services in particular, it is not to the purpose to denigrate, but rather to ennoble and distinguish, the consideration and deference with which subordinates treat their superiors, for whom the example is more worthy than the principle; neither is the office holder tarnished nor is his dignity degraded by complying with the respective obligations, being obedient and submissive to his superior's orders even though they may seem to him less than just or prudent, except however the right to respectful representation under the terms of the law. Criminal, civil and military law punishes disobedience by subordinates, permitting superiors in the hierarchical order and courts of justice the necessary repressive means with which to restrain and castigate the errors of those who do not know or who do not want to understand the duties of their ministers7.

"Whereas the documents do not show that the second naval lieutenant, Captain of the Port and commandant of the Marine Police of Macao, Demétrio Cinatti, had failed to show due respect to the higher authority of the province, or had disregarded the orders regularly issued for the purpose of the service, the accusations against him, of lacking respect and obedience to that same authority in the legal exercising of his functions, were in fact groundless.

"Whereas the correspondence exchanged with the accused and the Secretary-General, as seen in folio... shows conclusively that the said Secretary harboured a certain preconception of mistrust that the documents do not explain, when it is a fact that the accused always addressed himself to the higher authority without acrimony or recrimination but in normal and appropriate terms, only regretting that for some reason unknown to him, he had incurred the displeasure of that same authority, as stated in the official letter in folio 47 and subsequent folios;

"Whereas the accused has satisfactorily explained his mode of proceeding in relation to the issues that gave rise to the ill-founded criticism that was levelled against him, observing as he was bound to do, the higher orders, without taking advantage of the right to respectful representation as provided by law8;

"Whereas, according to the statements by witnesses, it is demonstrated that the accused always showed a desire to conduct himself according to good judgement in his official relations with the superior authority of the province, seeking to avoid in correspondence with the Secretary-General the use of words or terms that could have been interpreted as being less than appropriate or respectful;

"Whereas the other charges against the accused in the report by the Secretary-General of the government remain unproven;

"The Council of War confirms the decision and has pronounced the proceedings of the accused, Demétrio Cinatti, to be correct and his conduct free from blame.

"Macao, 14th of June 1883 - João José da Silva, Reporting Judge, - Thomas de Souza Rosa, Governor, Chairman. - Francisco Augusto Ferreira da Silva, Colonel with voting rights.- Fernando Augusto Costa Cabral, Lieutenant Captain Commandant of the Naval Station. - António M. Ribeiro da Fonseca, Major Commandant of the 1^st Overseas Battalion. - Álvaro da Costa Ferreira, 2^nd Naval Lieutenant. - I, J. P. S. Cardoso Pinto de Sousa, Supporting Captain, was present.

"It shall be executed - Macao, 15th of June 1883. - Thomas de Souza Rosa, Governor."

Demétrio Cinatti received no apology from those two scoundrels who had persecuted and victimized him to such an extent, but for him it was enough that his honour, integrity and reputation as an honest man and naval officer had been preserved intact and even enhanced, contrary to the standing of his two persecutors who had proved themselves to be petty and narrow-minded, lacking the nobility of feeling and procedure required by the high offices conferred on them. In this sordid episode, the accused should have been those two delinquent scoundrels, not Demétrio Cinatti.

Fortunately for the Portuguese nation, the degradation of the mentality of the ruling classes was not one hundred per cent; there have always been individuals who are immune to corruption and the temptation to abuse power, however great or insignificant that power may be, and to the rottenness that attempts to corrupt virtue and morals, understood in their philosophical rather than religious context, which make man superior by helping him exceed the limitations that are inherent in the human condition. The counterpart to this is that the number of such men is almost always fewer than that required by a just and balanced society, even in the most developed societies, and the eternal conflict that balances creators and innovators against obstructive and destructive individuals, whether active or passive, continues. Societies evolve, succumb, or degenerate in conformity and at the same frequency at which the opponents in this struggle predominate one over the other.

In the Portuguese case, for centuries the country has been one of the arenas in which those two opposing forces have been locked in ferocious combat, and, judging by its condition in the early twentieth century, the victory of homo lusitanus superior is far from assured.

In this sad episode both Joaquim José da Graça and the graduate Corte-Real acted like ignoble villains and emerged as unworthy of the high offices they occupied.

Those imitating the example of Joaquim José da Graça and his confederate Corte-Real, are more numerous than those who follow the principles of Demétrio Cinatti, but as long as there are Portuguese like him, hope will not fade for a better and more just Portugal.

In order to achieve this aim, the mentality of the Portuguese people must change, and this requires profound modifications within the education system of our young people, which should start from early infancy, that is, from the home and primary school. The English have a saying that the Battle of Waterloo was won on the playing fields of Eton, meaning that the spirit of sacrifice and discipline, sense of unity and cooperation, patriotism in its most noble and altruistic sense, resistance to physical and spiritual suffering, mental agility, tenacity and persistence in achieving a desired objective despite the punishment suffered in the effort, experience in how to read the character and capabilities of team members correctly, independently of personal liking or antipathy, etc., are qualities that are acquired and developed by practice and example, rather than being innate gifts, a pedagogic doctrine that contrasts sharply with the educational customs and habits of training the Portuguese character. As a symbol, Eton is the first among equals of British schools and therefore was one of the "factories" of leaders who served the British Empire so well and whose moral authority was rarely contested; their subordinates knew that despite the privileges enjoyed by their leaders, at the "moment of truth" they would be the first to sacrifice themselves. It should be remembered that in the trenches of the First World War, losses among the lower ranks were around thirty to forty per cent whilst those among officers reached eighty five per cent and frequently one hundred per cent.

By contrast, Portugal has never established schools that have been guided by the same principles as British schools such as Eton, focused on character-training and civic awareness, and despite fierce censure that for centuries has strangled, atrophied and retarded Portuguese intellectual development, it is generally known that the choice of its leaders for posts of vital importance and supreme responsibility depends more on the genealogy of the candidates than on their competence, integrity, intelligence or experience. The fact that some of them have met the conditions required for effective and capable leadership is due more to chance than a well-considered and complete assessment of their personal qualities and potentials. It is to this imbecilic and supercilious procedure of appointing leaders that we may trace of the causes of the decline of the Empire - an empire that never managed to become consolidated on a sure and stable base - and of Portugal's backwardness (and in specific cases retrogression) in terms of culture, science, morality, society, agriculture, trade, industry, finance and art. Portugal's national shield has come to have three columns: that of ignorance and superstition, that of intolerance, and that of poverty. The country will sink to the level of a tribe, the last tribe in Western Europe.

Amongst the literary works analyzing Portuguese society written by foreign authors and travellers, the commentary by Charles Boxer, the greatest authority on the history of Portugal's presence in Asia, defines in a few short words what others would have turned into a treatise. On page 122 of his book "The Portuguese Seaborne Empire, 1415 - 1825", he writes: "In addition, the Portuguese, who relied almost entirely on noblemen, gentlemen of pedigree and grandees as naval and military leaders, were at a disadvantage in relation to the commanders who were in the service of the Dutch East India Company in which professional experience and competence (and not genealogy or social class) constituted the essential criteria for promotion. One of them, writing in 1656, bitingly emphasized the contrast between the noble aristocrats who had lost Malacca and Ceylon and the lowly-born Dutch who had conquered those places".

The British also understand perfectly that the good Dr. Samuel Johnson, when claiming that patriotism was the rascal's last refuge, was referring to the opportunism and falseness of the professional and boastful patriot, verbose and extravagant in demagogic discourse while at the same time taking advantage of the emotions he awakened in order to seize all kinds of advantages (financial, monetary, positions of privilege, honorary posts, influence, etc.).

Portugal has always been infested by these parasites and was the indulgent camp of "sebastianistas" (believers in the return of King Sebastian from Africa), who waited for someone else to come along and tell them what to do (since that did not require a great deal of effort). When other nations took advantage of their carelessness, indolence and negligence in order to expropriate the Portuguese Empire (as in the case of the ultimatums that our English "friends" offered us with punctual and monotonous regularity, at least once a century, in order to remind the Portuguese of the value and benefit (to the English) of the world's oldest alliance) - they gave our so-called compatriots the opportunity to exhibit their rowdy patriotism, in which the courage of each one was measured by the decibels of his voice, holding numerous-and perfectly useless - noisy street demonstrations, making angry speeches, sending numerous telegrams to each other, manifesting their repugnance and solidarity. However, once the fizz had gone out of their empty and ineffectual outbursts and they had verbally demolished the target and object of their acoustic attacks, thus proving to a fearful world and their terrified enemies with such vocal courage and otorhinolaryngologistic power that people like that are not to be toyed with, they withdrew peacefully and went home, before their dinnertime soup got cold or before the "two arms awaiting them inside four whitewashed walls" (the words of an old Portuguese song or fado) got tired, their conscience at ease with the satisfaction of someone who has already fulfilled his patriotic and chattering duties, before moving on to discharge his conjugal duties.

The preparation of leaders to run the great Portuguese nation needs to be managed with greater care at the family level, by the principles and precepts of strong discipline that is firm yet caring, deontology, citizenship, a sense of personal duty and honour that characterized and moulded the nature of the Cinatti family whose members were raised and educated within the family, chiefly by their parents, from a very early age, which provides an example to follow.

With an illustrious and compassionate grandfather, and a sensitive and talented father who was a paragon of civic, moral and professional virtues, it is not surprising that Demétrio had absorbed the lessons in humanitarian training he had received from the most senior members of his family, in turn passing them on to his own descendants - for example, his grandson Rui Cinatti, Portugal's greatest and internationally best-known ethnologist, and a figure whose professional integrity and humanity have contributed to his prestige as an exceptional person. After seeking discharge from the offices he had held, Demétrio Cinatti did not return alone to Portugal; in the Macao Cathedral he married Hermínia Jesus Homem de Carvalho with whom he had a daughter, Hermínia Celeste, the future mother of Rui Cinatti, who was born in Lisbon.

Demétrio Cinatti's stay in Macao was only the prelude to a brilliant career during which his exceptional qualities were frequently acknowledged and remarked on, more by foreigners than by Portuguese.

In 1890, he returned to China as consul in Canton, moving on to Zanzibar in 1894 where he carried out the functions of delegate representing Portugal in the international division of the city, as well as assuming the role of Consul-General. The following year, promoted to First Class Consul responsible for trade in Pretoria, he was present throughout the entire war in the Transvaal, during which he was made responsible for British interests in the city. His value as an individual and a diplomat was much valued by President Kruger, who became a personal friend. As consul in Le Havre in 1905 he received the thanks of the French government in the form of the award of the Legion of Honour. He returned to Macao as Secretary to the Portuguese High Commissioner, General Joaquim José Machado (not da Graça this time), to undertake the delimitation of Macao and its dependencies, and was awarded a commendation for his contribution. Posted to the Portuguese Consulate in London in 1911, he became Consul-General in 1913, retired in 1917, and died in Lisbon in 1921.

As for the graduate, Corte-Real, his intellectual limitations and his character defects kept him in dim and well-deserved obscurity; yet, to a certain extent, taking account of the mentality of the bureaucratic rulers of the time, it is surprising that he was not promoted to the post of Minister, or at least Secretary of State9.

This was precisely what happened to his former boss, ex-patron and ex-protector, Joaquim da Graça, whom the luminaries of the Terreiro do Paço had seen fit to recommend to the King as his Adviser (Provincial Bulletin of Macao and Timor No. 7 dated 17th of February 1883), to which His Most Faithful Majesty (as was the custom with recommendations made by his Minister and Secretary of Marine and Overseas Affairs), majestically assented.

And here we have our esteemed José da Graça turned into an adviser; as they say in Brazil, what he was capable of advising, what he advised on, and how he advised, was recorded in the minutes of the Royal Council for the edification of future generations, consisting of a blank page - because unfortunately, the wick of this illustrious adviser was too short to succeed in melting such large masses of cerebral wax accumulated in his vast cranial chambers, a rare and precious fuel that the King hoped to see converted into the shining light of inspired opinions and brilliant solutions regarding all matters submitted to the wise, judicious, sensible judgement of the carefully selected advisers and leaders (although there were also those who doubted that they were), who had been chosen because of their experience and lineage consecrated through time, use and habit, and invited to sit down gravely and solemnly on their august and venerable bottoms in the cosy quilted chairs of the highest areopagus in the kingdom, namely the Royal Council.

The only problem was that the composition of this Council was naturally inclined towards a preference for foaming, slobbering mediocrity instead of the more wholesome cream of competence, probity and analytical truth. Its actions were therefore not very effective since, metaphorically speaking, a humble oil lamp would have given more light than the brilliance of the intellects of all the Royal Councillors put together and this latest acquisition to its stable was not going to make it more productive and luminous. The Demétrio Cinatti affair had exposed the Governor's lack of impartiality and sense of justice, in addition to revealing his moral cowardice (or shall we say timidity?). As the pompous minister plenipotentiary of His Most Faithful Majesty in the Courts of China, Japan and Siam, his diplomatic talent and negotiating ability were too dull and opaque, and were not sufficient to change the "third category" status of Portuguese nationals resident in those countries, as stated in the following extract of the speech given by the Chairman of the Governing Council of Macao on the occasion of the transferral of the government to the new Governor, Thomaz de Sousa Rosa (Provincial Bulletin No. 17 dated 28th of April 1883): "International relations with the empires of China and Japan have maintained the status quo as at the time of Mr. Graça's withdrawal and they seem to be more or less favourable (?) to peace10,since the Portuguese subjects resident in the territory of the two empires are not considered as nationals, nor do they enjoy the same advantages, prerogatives and courtesies as are granted to the subjects of other foreign countries11". In a blessed spirit of peace, the writer was undoubtedly unaware of the nonsense he had just uttered; he was implying that the Portuguese considered themselves, or ought to consider themselves, to be more or less favoured to have been relegated to third class status, below the nationals of other countries with governments that were more energetic than Portugal's. This was an abject resignation on the part of Portuguese leaders who were more or less favoured, but favoured nevertheless, being treated in a manner more appropriate for servants, serenely submitting to a subordinate classification attributed by those countries to their Portuguese residents who did not understand the autistic and catatonic passivity of their government which initiated a policy of indifference toward and abandonment of Portuguese immigrants scattered across the world, who in practical terms had to defend themselves because in those days successive Portuguese governments showed interest only in monetary remittances and financial contributions from its economic and political exiles.

The population of mainland Portugal at that time was increasingly stratified into two layers of insulated and watertight social castes: those that had everything (very narrow) and those that had nothing (very broad), with a small slice of petty bourgeoisie in the middle to separate them (or bind them together, according to some).

Portuguese society therefore consisted of two distinct classes, with a more heteromorphous one in the middle: namely, the class of nobility and lineage, 12 and that of the amorphous bovine mass, the serfs of the modern era, the moujiks of the west, undernourished illiterates, coarsely clothed machines with hoes and pick-axes, a plebeian class even more backward than in mediaeval times because the country was rotten and on the verge of rotting even more; this was the cannon fodder they used to order to correct the negligence, the incompetence and uncouth stupidity of the political bosses and tyrants of the last quarter of the 19th century (the quality of which did not improve in the years that followed).

This corruption and total inability to lead, no matter who was in power, culminated in the English ultimatum in 1890. This ultimatum not only unmasked British hypocrisy, but also confirmed the degeneration of Portugal's governmental, political and administrative structures as a result of poor management and leadership by ignorant and arrogant autocrats who had been promoted to top posts by the characteristically Lusitanian process of the traditional "fixer" - the godfather system and nepotism - and who at the head of the command chain of Portugal's fate, presided undaunted and serenely over the disaster that still awaited the Portuguese empire, the denseness of their brains rendering them completely impermeable to the bitter lessons of the past.

The fact that the members of the Cinatti family had managed to endure the blackest periods of Portuguese contemporary history unscathed indicates the robust nature of their moral and civic training, which was on a par with their virtues and human qualities, teaching us a lesson in the dignity, integrity and true patriotism that perpetuate their name and prestige, while the comical biographical episodes involving Corte-Real and the Minister Plenipotentiary, Joaquim da Graça, are a negative lesson, an example to be avoided by all those who value their good name, their family's good reputation and above all the prestige of their country, which is only respected in time and space, if the sums of their positive actions are greater than the negative ones of their children. Otherwise, if that balance runs to the negative, it will be viewed as a farce, a banana republic whose very existence is a comedy with puppets as leaders.

The Portuguese people have a long and prestigious, although unsung, history, unique among the histories of other nations, existing or disappeared.

But there have also been less lofty episodes and individuals whose cruelty, greed, egotism, vanity, stupidity, spiritual inferiority and bestiality have made them objects of ridicule, scorn and abomination. It is therefore left to the decent citizen to strive to neutralize their disastrous actions and not contribute to the negative debt, however small this may be, that is capable of diminishing or defiling the Portuguese nation.

Cinatti was aware of this obligation. Whoever reads this should never forget it either, no matter how small may be the brick that contributes to the vast monument of our Portugueseness.

Sadly, however, bureaucratic stupidity has rapidly become institutionalized, gaining direct access to the ultimate spheres of power and the Royal Councils of the kingdom, as a condition sine qua non for promotion and on example to be followed and emulated. Without this essential ingredient, no decree, no State business, no proclamation, no edict, can be considered perfect, complete and recommendable for promulgation and compliance by the masses.

The Greeks of the classical era used to have a saying that "the gods fight in vain against stupidity", a concept that for four centuries has inspired and encouraged Lisbon's most prominent politicians and leaders who have always been victorious in their inglorious struggles against common sense, competence, knowledge, personal dignity and sense of duty for the well-being of the people and the prestige of the nation, adopting this saying as their secret motto, silent battle cry, and proclamation of confidential summons to their congresses and partisan meetings.

The culture of stupidity initiated by King Manuel and King João Ⅲ four hundred years ago has survived very well, thank you, and, fertile and contented, has prospered and expanded.

Imagine that if, during the Cold War between 1950 and 1980, the Americans had exiled to Russia the majority of their nuclear scientists, physicists, economists, financiers, doctors, university professors, philosophers, Nobel prize-winners, artists, bankers, aeronautical and space engineers, pilots of experimental prototype aircraft, biologists, strategists, etc. - in fact almost all its intelligentsia - and forced those who stayed behind to renounce their most sacred beliefs and to lead the life of a mole, from generation to generation under eternal and omnipresent threat of force, the garrotte, and death at the stake (replaced in this hypothetical case by the electric chair, as a concession to the terminology of the 20th century), forever afraid that at any moment their possessions might be expropriated and that they would be forbidden from carrying out numerous activities or assuming the highest public office? Almost certainly, those responsible for that nightmare policy would be classified as stark, staring mad, raving lunatics made worse by delerium tremens, who really belonged in an asylum for the criminally insane; demented, raging incurables, not suitable to work in public institutions that administer, regulate and control the res publica as honest people.

But this was precisely what happened in Portugal during the 15th and 16th centuries with the expulsion of the Moors and Jews who refused to convert to Christianity (1496) and forty years later with the creation of the most depraved, most sinister and most enduring institution that the twisted mind of the human being ever devised - the Inquisition. This emerged in 1536 and was officially extinct in Portugal only in 1821, although it persisted in various forms for much longer, also referred to grotesquely and incongruously as "The Holy Office" - a blasphemous and sacrilegious obscenity, as it was satanic rather than holy, and it was not an office of people who were healthy and normal (no less than the Mafia, the Gestapo, the STASI, the KBG, the PIDE, the CIA, the DINA or any other organization that uses terror, torture, intimidation and assassination as illegal instruments in order to impose their will, doctrines and policies).

By expelling the cream of its humanists, Portugal became weakened and had sowed the seeds of its decadence even before the Empire had reached its zenith. Portugal's loss proved to be its enemies' gain.

The history of Portugal is full of acts of valour that bear witness to Portuguese courage, yet neither has courage been lacking in the country's greatest rivals, particularly the Dutch. The consolidation of the empire required commercial and administrative talent as well as the management of resources, and in these fields, the Portuguese emerged as distinctly inadequate and inept.

It was precisely in the Netherlands, already shaking off Spain's oppressive yoke and ready to become Portugal's greatest enemy, that the fine flowers of the sciences, arts, letters, banking, industry and commerce driven out of the kingdom of Portugal found refuge, protection, tolerance and a fertile ground in which to expand the products of their intellectual development (think of the outstanding figure of Spinoza, who revolutionized thought, leading to major consequences for methods of scientific investigation), teaching, scientific and trading activities (for example, the products of the extremely lucrative lapidary industry and the diamond trade, the centre of which could just as well have been Lisbon instead of Amsterdam), shipbuilding (they taught the Dutch how to. fit out long distance ships for the armadas that snatched from the hands of the Portuguese the monopoly on trade with the Far East and the territories of Ceylon, Malacca, Indonesia, the Spice Islands, Formosa, Japan, and almost Brazil), its academic achievements (they raised and trained managers, administrators, governors, naval and military leaders, all selected and chosen according to their talents and abilities, natural gifts of leadership and experience) which enabled the Netherlands to gain the maximum advantage from the resources of its empire in order to raise the level of culture of its people, initiating infrastructures that led to the modernity of its present culture and to prosperity, creating new industries and markets, universities and institutes, expanding the geographical area of its territory by means of massive hydraulic engineering works and land reclamation, modernizing and maintaining its merchant and defence fleets, etc., in full awareness that the road to future prosperity is prepared in the present, using lessons from the past experience.

With the departure of the intelligentsia from Portugal, the Dutch learned not only to create wealth and the means to obtain even more, but more importantly, they also learned to apply it wisely and judiciously in order to regenerate themselves continuously even after their empire had been divided up and vanished, a lesson that the Portuguese grandees never learned - nor wanted to learn. In global terms, therefore, Portugal has always been dogged by poverty and wretchedness, ignorance and backwardness, both at the seat of the Empire and in its overseas outposts, condemned to suffer through the ages the incessant consequences of disasters and catastrophes caused by the same mistakes, the same misunderstandings, the same stupidity of its overlords and masters.

With a financial management philosophy of "easy come, easy go", Portugal's leaders immediately spent any profits, and resorted to the most plebian habit of pawning the national wealth and mortgaging future unearned income, an unwise and destructive thoughtlessness that had already become part of the national culture of the Portuguese ruling elite, a vice that, like all of them, undermined any chance of financial prosperity and stability - and, at an ever increasing speed, it ate away at the Empire, causing it to crumble. The habit of resorting to the pawnbroker became an important factor in financial management and after the Restoration, chiefly during the reign of King João V, it headed the list of Portuguese foreign policy priorities; by the example it provided, it also became part of the habits of the Portuguese people as a cultural element enshrined in genuine and ritualistic tradition.

Daring and courage are key factors for the creation of empires, but the guarantee of the consolidation, survival and prosperity of empire depends solely on the actions of leaders who are competent, honest, dedicated and imbued with a sense of imperial duty and mission, effectively supported by a well-tuned and adjusted administrative and judicial machine, comprising efficient and morally trained employees guided by policies that are coherent, clear, just and adapted to the environment in which they are to be applied; these policies should only be modified in order to adapt to new circumstances that may arise and to the natural evolution of popular needs and requests, as well as of the intelligent and appropriate use of natural resources. But in this the Portuguese intelligentsia and their elite failed spectacularly and needlessly. The Portuguese nation consisted of good dough, but there were no bakers able to knead it. Portugal had too few Cinattis and far too many Corte-Reals.

Those in charge of administering Portugal and the Portuguese preferred to follow the so-called "ham policy", a term coined by the British historical analyst, Sir Arthur Bryant, to describe a leader with vision who is followed by another whose way of thinking has the consistency of lard - inert, opaque, dense, sluggish - similar to ham fat.

The fact was that in other empires, this policy was of a temporary nature and did not survive for very long periods. But in the Portuguese Empire, any governor, commander in chief, viceroy or attorney general who by chance displayed a sense of vision, foresight, sense of mission, administrative efficiency and the ability to command (the lean part of the ham), involuntarily scared the central authorities who reacted by replacing him with another less controversial individual, more amorphous, passive and predictable (the layer of fat that comes after the lean). When the situation reached a breaking point so low as to be excessively dangerous and explosive, they brought in someone of better quality with more experience, thus creating repeating but highly irregular cycles.

Consequently, the ham policy (fat-lean, fat-lean) - which in Portugal's case was more fat than lean - lasted for centuries, and, despite the squandering of natural resources and raw materials, which were rarely processed in a rational manner, there was enough to satisfy the central powers, as they were always receiving something without going to a great deal of trouble (although the same could not be said of those connected with their transportation). They were indifferent to the fact that the massive profits derived from the processing, manufacturing and use of those raw materials and products from overseas went to other European countries to which they were re-exported, including - incredible as it may seem - Portugal's greatest enemy at that time, the Netherlands, which was the country that benefited and gained most from the effort of transporting goods from far-off lands to Europe. It was the age-old problem of feeding pearls to swine: to people who could not appreciate or understand their potential to advance the social progress and well-being of the Portuguese nation.

The perpetuation of this ham policy, observed and classified with great inspiration by Portugal's British "allies", and its dominant influence on the Portuguese socio-political panorama, was made possible due to the unique -perhaps unbelievable would be more accurate - type of Portuguese leaders and governors and the esoteric and hermetic reasons that governed the selection of the enlightened who, independently of their experience and relevant career histories, determined and took the lead in overseas affairs and foreign business, for the greater glory and prosperity of the Portuguese nation. A typical example from the 20th century will provide a better explanation for the reader.

Bulletin No. 5 of the General Agency for the Colonies issued in November 1925 published the obituary of the Director General of Central Services and the Secretary General of the Ministry of Colonies. The following extract is worthy of mention:- "Invited to take over the colonies' portfolio in 1912 and later, in 1914 the portfolio for war, he soon revealed his statesmanlike qualities, which became evident in the magnificent ministerial report he presented to the Republican Congress and of which only the first volume has been published as the second one is still being reviewed"..."This work, one of the most brilliant to grace the Portuguese colonial library, leaves us in awe of the knowledge, depth, clarity and erudition with which the varied, vast and complex aspects of our problem are treated, all the more so when we consider that Cerveira de Albuquerque never visited any of our colonies"..."In this report, from which all colonials have a great deal to learn..."

It is indisputable that colonialists would have had a great deal more to learn, and would have been even more amazed, if Mr. Albuquerque had in fact cast off his sloth and visited them. But meanwhile, by the same crazy logic, the example of this ex-minister responsible for the colonies and war leads us to believe that if Vasco da Gama had had the same great qualities and foresight of this individual, there would have been no need for him to have left the Tagus River estuary in order to attempt to discover the sea route to India, nor would Luis de Camões have needed to learn to read in order to write The Lusiads, despite those who refused to believe that certain things could happen unless visits were made to the places where they were happening, as was the case with soldiers and sailors on long tours of duty overseas, or men involved in routine cod-fishing expeditions, who returned after absences of months and years to find their womenfolk pregnant, which they believed to be impossible without their visits and personal contributions, and which would lead to uproar resulting from their incomprehension. This fortunately was not the case with Mr. Cerveira d' Albuquerque and his colonial treaty.

This supreme confidence, this indestructible optimism in the value of the fanciful theory superimposed on actual reality and past experience is common to statesmen who expended their talents on cabinet meetings, galleries, court departments, chancelleries, etc. where Portuguese affairs of state were conducted, and who were the oil in the waning lamps that since the remote 16th century had illuminated the political strategies of national government structures. This is a phenomenon practically unknown in any other part of the globe, with the exception of certain isolated tribes in remote parts of Arabia and North Africa where the belief in kismet - equivalent to the fatalism of the Portuguese fado - is a philosophy for life. A series of habits has therefore been created, a bureaucracy of procedures and codes for action which, combined with the aforementioned ham policy, managed to suffocate the voices of reason, inspiration and experience, a situation that was caused by the great thickness of (symbolic) fat on top of the (symbolic) lean, so that the Portuguese Empire, the first on which the sun never set (rather than the Spanish one, which was second, or the British, which was fourth) failed to achieve the level of development that its enormous potential promised. The core issue cannot simply be summed up by the acquisition of wealth and its transportation to the kingdom. There was also a need to know how that wealth should be invested - but the Portuguese did not know how to do that. They still do not know even today. In Portugal, amateurism reigned supreme, and a smoked ham was its symbol and coat of arms.

Despite its special statute that differed from that of other colonies, on several occasions Macao was affected by the ham policy, as at the time of Demétrio Cinatti when the fat of Joaquim José da Graça was replaced by a governor imbued with fine and remarkable qualities, both as a human and as a manager, who was competent, charismatic, and possessed of refined diplomatic skills and sensitivity in his manner and personal dealings both with foreigners and Portuguese nationals. Thomaz de Souza Rosa was a leader who left a legacy, which, as may be expected following such reversals of competence, was not continued with the same efficiency, inspiration and wisdom by his successors at the end of that century and in the next.

Similar to the G. C. D. (greatest common denominator) in mathematics, the Portuguese regimes that followed, whether monarchies, republics, dictatorships, anarchies, democracies, etc. all had a greatest common denominator: the ham policy, a policy that was inherently hostile to all the Cinattis of this world and to those who follow the same principles and uphold the same values that made him remarkable.

Translated from Portuguese by

PHILOS - Comunicação Global, Lda. www.philos.pt

Gunboat: Tâmega River. In the 1880s, it was used to carry out drilling, measurements and the removal of hydrographic samples as directed by Demétrio Cinatti. (Photo taken from "A Marinha em Macau" (The Navy in Macao), Macao Ports Authority, 8th of July 1997).

NOTES

1 The importance of the decision of the Governor Ferreira do Amaral to extend the city beyond the walls has not been grasped even today, nor has it been acknowledged by Chinese storytellers, since with the removal of the tombs that were scattered about the area beyond the walls, came the draining and drying up of the swamps and pools of stagnant water, ideal habitats for incubating flies and mosquitoes and the proliferation of deadly micro-organisms such as the germs responsible for malaria, yellow fever, cholera, tuberculosis, lethargic encephalitis, etc. that had claimed so many victims amongst the Chinese population. This Governor, so wickedly and maliciously slandered, saved thousands of Chinese lives, a fact generally omitted or "forgotten" by historians when describing or analyzing that period. Furthermore, the city's expansion had become essential in order to house the Chinese population who preferred to live there, contravening the rules established during the early days of Macao when the Mandarins forbade their subjects from living and mixing with the "barbarians from the west" (Sai Yan Kwai). In previous centuries, the gates in the walls had been closed at night and any Chinese person who had not got out in time could only move about the streets armed with a lantern, not so much to light his way but so that his Chinese nationality would be visible to any potential assailant. The death of a Chinese citizen led to consequences for the population of the city that were so serious that the possibility of any mistake had to be eliminated completely.

2 The most typical and potentially most embarrassing affair took place during the years 1975-76, when the priests from the Lin Fung temple (the Lotus Temple), protesting works being carried out in the neighbourhood of the temple, proved that, according to an imperial concession, they owned almost all the area surrounding the pagoda, including Mong Ha Hill and the Inner Harbour. Fortunately, the matter was settled to the satisfaction of both parties without the priests from the only Taoist temple in Macao claiming the restitution of their land.

3 The only possibility of determining the correct and accurate plans of this Fortress may be found in the military archives or those of the former Overseas Ministry. Bulletin No. 46 of the Province of Macao and Timor, Volume XXIX, dated 17th of November 1883, page 409, contained a report by the commander of the 1^st Battalion of the Overseas Infantry Regiment on the use of first and second year schoolboys as surveyors. Paragraph 9 reads as follows:

"I am also sending to you, for due examination by the Governor of the province, as you may consider appropriate, maps drawn by five second year students for which I sought authorization in due time by means of my official communication No. 215, dated 14th of September. As soon as the copy that is now underway has been completed, I shall send, for the same purpose, the map of the entire area from São Lázaro to the Portas do Cerco, also surveyed by the same students whose work has been carried out under the supervision of the aforesaid Lieutenant Palermo d' Oliveira, and you will have the opportunity to assess their accuracy". It is probable that this work and others had been greatly assisted by Cinatti's map, as an invaluable and reliable point of reference. (Provincial Bulletin of Macao and Timor, 24th-25th of June 1802).

4 As has been mentioned many times, a nation that has no knowledge of its past is a nation that will soon lose out in the future. It is a nation's history that serves as mortar to bond its constituent parts; suffice it to recall the Jewish people who were driven out of their land and scattered all over the world, persecuted, segregated, divided, humiliated and massacred for thousands of years and yet retained their identity and survived as a nation without its own territory because the chronicle of their origins - victories, defeats, shame and glory, both great and wretched periods in history, etc. - also survived, thanks to their devotion and the sacrifices they made for its preservation. The name given by the Jews to this chronicle is Torah: Christians call it the Old Testament and have incorporated it into the book they call the Bible. It is disheartening to witness the neglect into which the state of Portuguese history has fallen and it is sad to see university students on Portuguese television demonstrate their complete ignorance of their country's biography; in a popular game show offering prizes for correct answers to the MC.'s questions, one student was unable to list more than three Portuguese kings whilst another, when asked about the first King of Portugal and founder of the nation, thought long and hard and then came up with "King Sancho Ⅱ".Not only did this student of economics reveal his ignorance but also his stupidity, causing one to speculate as to whether he was an exception or a typical case, but it certainly helps us to understand the reasons for the destruction of the ever- deteriorating Portuguese national heritage.

5 The "port of Macao" is understood as being the territory of the entire enclave, since Macao was usually referred to as "port of Macao, in China".

6 Consequently diving voluntarily into the same septic tank in which his Secretary-General enjoyed wallowing.

7 With which no-one disagreed, except that it later emerged that the faults and irregularities described here had been perpetrated solely by employees of the government of Macao, both by the holder of the post and by his assistant. In the end, the accusers and critics should have been the ones in the dock; the superiors turned out to be inferior and their excellencies lacked excellence, on the contrary being made of very ordinary stuff, whilst the demeanour of the bureaucratic aristocrats was devoid of all nobility.

8 and when he did so, Mr. Joaquim José da Graça was unaware of those same laws and rejected his petition. There is a great difference between promulgating laws and obliging those responsible for enforcing them to comply with those laws themselves.

9 In 1901, this individual was a judge at law in Suleiman where he held office until the 11th of March 1903 and again starting from the 7th of January 1904. He was transferred to São Tomé by a decree dated 24th of February 1904, taking up his post on the 1st of March 1905, where he remained rotting away until the 1st of June 1908. One can only hope that notwithstanding the primitivism of that colony, it applied a criterion of justice that was more developed than that seen in Macao, although the saying," he who is born crooked will straighten himself out sooner or later" can perhaps be justly applied to this judge.

10 This literary gem, although exposing an extremely advanced case of mental dry rot, corroding inexorably the cerebral kernel of the illustrious speaker, for whom absolute terms may be subject to qualifying gradations of a relative and quantitative order - "a deceased person who is more or less dead", "a lady who is more or less pregnant", "an illiterate who is more or less cultured", "a young lady who is more or less a virgin" - could have been the start of a new literary style if his advocates had the courage to face the disgrace of being called more or less idiots. However, with the implementation of a "more or less" policy by bodies that were more or less masculine and more or less sane and in possession of their mental faculties, it is no wonder that the Portuguese nation was led down a path more than less irrevocably leading straight to ruin and a future more or less replete with wretchedness, poverty, ignorance and backwardness. The politicians offered a moronic consolation with the slogan "proud to be alone", as if that were enough for the people to become adapted to their wretched situation living in "permanent genteel poverty", being considered "cultural ignoramuses" and "irretrievably backward". This, in a country that was incapable of sustaining, feeding and educating its demographic increase, and which despite the vast areas it used to control, was forced to resort to both legal and clandestine (but chiefly clandestine) emigration, thus contradicting the stupidity constantly proclaimed by the Portuguese Civil Service misgovernors working in the Terreiro do Paço, certainly "proud and ridiculously alone", insulated from their people and seen as pariahs by more prosperous countries in the rest of the world, countries reasonably free, relatively civilized, wisely developed and without the need to resort to charity, due to competent governance and the institutional and legal means to address incompetence, attribute blame, and replace government bunglers, corrupt and grubby little men, irresponsible administrators and the idiotic grandees of bureaucracy.

11It is difficult to imagine such absurdity in so few words, even in the kind of bombastic discourse devoid of content, that is endlessly repeated by Portuguese public figures fired up with a compulsion to exercise their vocal chords and the tendency to forget to engage the appropriate parts of their brains so that they end up uttering the most insane and absurd statements unawares. This was a cultural phenomenon that even in those days was a feature of rhetoric and prosody in the obligatory and ever-present speeches at ceremonies held during commemorations or in public acts that craved the ceremonial and were of deep significance.

But the apex of obsequious foolishness in the speech given by the esteemed Chairman of the Council of Macao in 1883, reflecting the peculiar thinking of the minister plenipotentiary, Joaquim José da Graça, was to consider the position of inferiority occupied by the Portuguese resident in China and Japan, who were deprived (in the way he himself described) of the advantages, privileges and deference enjoyed by nationals of other countries, as "seeming to be more or less favourable". It becomes obvious that if the Mikado or the Court of Peking had given a banquet for the accredited diplomatic corps in the capitals of those two empires, the Portuguese representative would have had to eat in the kitchen with the servants, yet he would clearly have considered such circumstances to be more or less favourable, feeling most honoured to have been invited there with such company.

12Even in the 20th century, the privileges of the aristocracy in several parts of Portugal also included aspects of the darkest and most primitive feudalism, such as the "droit du seigneur", sometimes transmuted or sublimated into the most symbolic act of the postnuptial ceremony of the "pernada", a popular festive occasion attended by the local priest whose presence would confer on it extra solemnity, grant ecclesiastical approval, and control any excesses resulting from the euphoria of the act itself.

* Graduating in architecture from the University of Hong Kong in 1969, he has worked in the Urban Planning Office of the Department of Public Works and Transport (DSSOPT). He is a researcher into the history of Macao, has worked on occasion as a journalist, and has published a book, "As Fortificações de Macau" (The Fortifications of Macao) (Macao, ICM, 1969, 1984)