Lisbon
Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...
, 19 November 1763 — Lisbon, 10 December 1839), the 8th
Count of São Lourenço
Count (feminine: countess) is a historical title of nobility in certain European countries, varying in relative status, generally of middling rank in the hierarchy of nobility. Pine, L. G. ''Titles: How the King Became His Majesty''. New York: ...
, 2nd
Count of Sabugosa
The Count of Sabugosa ( pt, Conde de Sabugosa), was a title created by letter on 19 September 1729 by King John V of Portugal for Vasco Fernandes César de Meneses and his descendants.
After the founding of the First Portuguese Republic (1910-1 ...
Elvas
Elvas () is a Portuguese municipality, former episcopal city and frontier fortress of easternmost central Portugal, located in the district of Portalegre in Alentejo. It is situated about east of Lisbon, and about west of the Spanish fortress ...
Ajuda
Ajuda () is a ''freguesia'' (civil parish) and district of Lisbon, the capital of Portugal. Ajuda is located in western Lisbon, northeast of Belém and west of Alcântara. The population in 2011 was 15,617.Captain-General of the Azores. He disembarked in
Angra do Heroísmo
Angra do Heroísmo (), or simply Angra, is a city and municipality on Terceira Island, Portugal, and one of the three capital cities of the Azores. Founded in 1478, Angra was historically the most important city in the Azores, as seat of the Roma ...
on September 12, and took up his post on 17 October. One of his earliest tasks was to report on the state of the
Captaincy General
A captaincy ( es, capitanía , pt, capitania , hr, kapetanija) is a historical administrative division of the former Spanish and Portuguese colonial empires. It was instituted as a method of organization, directly associated with the home-rule a ...
for the Regency.Carlos Melo Bento (2008), p.77
With his eldest son António José de Melo Silva César e Meneses as aide-de-camp, he remained in the Azores for almost a year and a half before returning to Lisbon after the death of his father, the 1st Marquess of Sabugosa, on 4 June 1805.
Since was he only in his position for a short time, the
Count of São Lourenço
Count (feminine: countess) is a historical title of nobility in certain European countries, varying in relative status, generally of middling rank in the hierarchy of nobility. Pine, L. G. ''Titles: How the King Became His Majesty''. New York: ...
did not receive any appreciation from the local population. There are also few records of his administrative style. The most important was an ''officio'' from 13 January 1805, transcribed in the tenth volume of the '. José António concentrated on agriculture, and in particular the question of how to use uncultivated lands and the emigration problem, which was making it difficult to continue the agricultural tradition. The count was also involved in public education and help for foundlings abandoned at convents, at risk from the high child mortality rate. In addition, there was the need to concede the island of Graciosa emigration privileges to Brazil.
His tenure included the construction of a new pier in
Praia
Praia (, Portuguese language, Portuguese for "beach") is the capital and largest city of Cape Verde.
, the establishment of a seminary in Angra and implementation of the military reorganization of the Azores that had been planned by his predecessors.Carlos Melo Bento (2008), p.78 Problems with agriculture came to affect the island of São Miguel; the lack of cereals in the largest island in the archipelago caused a famine, forcing the captain to distribute free corn.
Owing to the trauma on São Miguel, the Micaelense initiated a movement for emancipation from the Captains General, which would allow them to deal directly with Lisbon, rather than go through the King's representatives in the archipelago. This was an issue of individual islands' autonomy as much as a question of economic power, since most wealth created in the other islands at that time was sent to Angra.
Later life
With the death of his father, José António inherited the immense wealth of the House of Sabugosa, and upon his request, was replaced as the Captain-General of the Azores. Having terminated his post in the government of the Azores, years later he returned to service in his regiment, was promoted to the post of brigadier in 1808 and later, successively, field marshal in 1810, and lieutenant general in 1815. By the end of his military career he was a member of the Council of War.
Defender of the legitimist pretender Miguel I of Portugal, he was a deputy in the and president of the Overseas Council. In 1826 he was made a peer of the realm, and exercised this role until the dissolution of the
Portuguese Cortes
In the Medieval Kingdom of Portugal, the Cortes was an assembly of representatives of the estates of the realm – the nobility, clergy and bourgeoisie. It was called and dismissed by the King of Portugal at will, at a place of his choosing.O'Ca ...
that preceded the beginning of the Portuguese Liberal Wars.