Moniz (Jaime Constantino de Freitas)

He was one of the most distinguished sons of Madeira in the 19th century. He was born in the parish (freguesia) of Sé (Funchal Cathedral) in this city on 18 February 1837, the son of António Caetano da Costa Moniz and Dona Eufémia de Freitas Moniz.

After completing his preparatory studies at the Funchal Lyceum (state secondary school), he enrolled in the Faculty of Law of the University of Coimbra (Universidade de Coimbra) in 1857. He graduated in 1862, having won the first prizes in every year of his course.

He immediately took up the practice of law, but his career in the courts, though extremely brilliant, was short. During this period of his life there occurred the lamentable tragedy, which shook the whole country, in which the deputy José Cardoso Vieira de Castro murdered his own wife. The trial aroused an interest never before seen in Portugal. Jaime Moniz had taken on the defence of his unfortunate friend, a former companion from his student days. The case was one of the most celebrated ever tried in Portugal, and the defence was recorded in the annals of the Portuguese bar as one of the most brilliant oratorical triumphs of forensic eloquence. The magistrate who led the prosecution had said that Jaime Moniz was a true meteor that had appeared, shining intensely, at the bar. Moniz at once retorted that he was indeed a meteor, not for the brilliance with which he shone but for the speed with which he passed. He was thus alluding to his short career as an advocate, which he soon abandoned for good.

Pinheiro Chagas and Camilo Castelo Branco wrote of this brilliant defence in terms of the highest praise, and the Portuguese living in Rio de Janeiro sent Jaime Moniz a gold crown in homage to the author of that monumental speech. The speech and the entire proceedings of the trial were published in a volume, printed in a large edition that soon sold out.

Like most men of merit in his day, Jaime Moniz also made his way through the tortuous windings of national politics, but he emerged unscathed from that quagmire in which so many wallow away their own dignity. He was deputy for the constituency of Castelo Branco in the three legislatures that ran from 1870 to 1874, and for the constituency of Goa in the legislative session of 1871 to 1875. When a law allowed the scientific establishments and bodies to elect a representative of their own to the House of Peers, Jaime Moniz was unanimously chosen to fulfil that high and honourable mission. His debut in parliament, in 1871, was a genuine political event, and he at once won standing as a notable parliamentarian. Whenever he raised his voice within the national assembly, the whole chamber listened to him attentively, and applause broke out spontaneously, even from the opposition benches. The subjects he chose to address above all, and with unquestionable authority, concerned public education and colonial questions.

When the Marquis of Ávila e Bolama fell in 1871, Fontes Pereira de Melo was called upon to form a ministry under his own presidency, in which Jaime Moniz took the Navy portfolio. That ministry included men of the stature of Rodrigues Sampaio, Barjona de Freitas and Andrade Corvo. Although his time in the councils of the Crown was not long, our illustrious fellow countryman left his mark on the Ministry of the Navy and Overseas through far-reaching measures. His name is still cited today as one of the statesmen in our country who did not neglect colonial questions.

Abandoning the bar and politics, Jaime Moniz devoted all the faculties of his mind to teaching, to the work of the Academy and to the many services of public instruction. In 1863 he entered the competitive examination for the chair of philosophy and universal history at the Curso Superior de Letras, publishing the thesis he presented, entitled Da natureza e extensão do progresso considerado como lei da humanidade e applicação especial dessa lei às bellas artes. As a professor at this institution of higher education he was among the most distinguished, and his colleagues on the teaching staff included professors of the stature of Viale, Pinheiro Chagas, Adolfo Coelho and Teófilo Braga.

He was a full member of the Lisbon Academy of Sciences (Academia das Ciências de Lisboa) and for many years held the post of secretary of the country’s foremost scientific and literary body, a post previously held by Latino Coelho and Pinheiro Chagas. His work within this illustrious areopagus stood out brilliantly, not only in the reports and memoirs he wrote but also in the organisation he gave to some of the Academy’s internal services; he also played a most notable part in all its most important work.

It was in the former Consultative Board of Public Instruction (Junta Consultiva de Instrução Pública), and later in the Superior Council of Public Instruction (Conselho Superior de Instrução Pública), over which Councillor (conselheiro, honorary title of the royal council) Jaime Constantino de Freitas Moniz presided for many years, that his activity showed itself most remarkably. He had a genuine passion for every matter connected with education, to which he devoted a considerable part of his life. He wrote many reports and opinions, drafted bills, delivered speeches, went abroad on official missions, reorganised those advisory bodies, etc., creating a name that, in the history of national education, will be crowned with many claims to public gratitude.

Jaime Moniz was also director-general of the secretariat of the Chamber of Deputies and published several annual reports on the services of that department.

He belonged to many literary and scientific societies, both Portuguese and foreign, and after his death, on the proposal of the Lisbon Academy of Sciences, his name was given to the Funchal Lyceum (state secondary school). He died in Lisbon on 16 September 1917.