Money borrowing, gold smuggling and diamond mining : an Englishman in Pombaline circles

Abstract

This article sets out to investigate the nature and consequences of the personal relationship between the English parliamentarian, contrabandist, and diamond trader John Bristow and the Portuguese envoy in London and Secretary of State Sebastiao Jose de Carvalho e Melo. A micro-historical enquiry of this relationship can clarify a number of key elements in the eighteenth-century Pombaline reforms. It shows that these policies were influenced by personal connections and pragmatic considerations, perhaps as much as they were by the prevailing mercantilist ideas and macro-economic circumstances portuguesEste artigo propoe-se investigar a natureza e as consequencias da relacao pessoal entre o parlamentar Ingles, contrabandista, e comerciante de diamantes John Bristow e o enviado Portugues em Londres e Secretario de Estado, Sebastiao Jose de Carvalho e Melo. Um inquerito de micro-historica baseado nessa relacao pode esclarecer uma serie de elementos-chave das reformas pombalinas do seculo XVIII. Mostra que essas politicas foram influenciados por conexoes pessoais e consideracoes pragmaticas, talvez tanto quanto os seus protagonistas estavam pelas ideias mercantilistas dominantes e pelas circunstâncias macro-economicas.