Sérgio Teixeira de Macedo

Sérgio Teixeira de Macedo began his legal education at Coimbra but returned to Brazil after political upheaval interrupted his studies. He graduated at Olinda in 1832, edited the newspaper O Olindense, and briefly worked as a public prosecutor before joining the Paris legation. Assignments in Lisbon, Rome, Turin, and Vienna followed. His surviving memoirs describe his childhood and student years, including the unrest surrounding the end of Pedro I's reign. ^{1, 2}

In Washington, Macedo defended Brazil's right to regulate navigation of the Amazon against American proposals to open it to all flags. He then moved to London, where he handled loans and railway business. Negotiations over the Dom Pedro II and Bahia railways drew criticism from the Brazilian government, and he published defenses of his conduct after leaving the post. ^{2, 1}

Macedo subsequently served as president of Pernambuco, a deputy, and minister of the Empire. He served in the cabinet from December 1858 to August 1859. After several years on inactive status, he returned to diplomatic office in Paris in late 1866. He died there on 11 November 1867, before taking up a newly assigned return to London. ¹