--- title: A nova espada que o governo pretende apresentar ao exército (The New Sword the Government Means to Present to the Army) url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/nova-espada-revista-illustrada-1887/ description: A lithograph cartoon shows a crowned figure in imperial robes (identified as the Baron of Cotegipe) and two ministers pressing on an army marshal… section: Collection --- [Collection](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/) **Content note:** A sabre ending in whip lashes (the emblem of slavery's punishment) offered to an army marshal by caricatured ministers. This object is shown as it was published. [Why](https://propagandaarchive.org/about/#as-it-was) [![A nova espada que o governo pretende apresentar ao exército (The New Sword the Government Means to Present to the Army)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/nova-espada-revista-illustrada-1887.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/nova-espada-revista-illustrada-1887.jpg) # A nova espada que o governo pretende apresentar ao exército (The New Sword the Government Means to Present to the Army) A lithograph cartoon shows a crowned figure in imperial robes (identified as the Baron of Cotegipe) and two ministers pressing on an army marshal (Deodoro) a sabre whose blade ends in leather lashes, while the marshal folds his arms and refuses and officers watch from the right. The tell is the object: the whip of slavery's punishment is grafted onto the government's sword, and the printed legend calls the enslaved 'wretched' people who 'fight for their freedom'. - **Date:** October 22, 1887 - **Period:** [Pre-1914](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#era=pre-1914) - **Made by:** Revista Illustrada (Rio de Janeiro), no. 468; artist not identified in the Commons record - **Region:** [Latin America](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#region=latin-america) - **Country:** [Empire of Brazil](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#country=empire-of-brazil) - **Medium:** [Cartoon](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#medium=cartoon) - **Issuer type:** [Media](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#actor=media) - **Regime:** [Empire of Brazil](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#regime=empire-of-brazil) - **Leader:** [Joao Mauricio Wanderley](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#leader=joao-mauricio-wanderley) - **Audience:** [Domestic public](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#audience=domestic-public) - **Purpose:** [Persuade or win support](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#purpose=persuade-support) - **Themes:** [Race and ethnicity](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#theme=race-ethnicity), [War and the military](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#theme=war-military) - **Event:** [Abolition of Slavery in Brazil](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#event=abolition-of-slavery-in-brazil) - **Techniques:** [Transfer](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/transfer/) - **Source:** Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are - **Source:** [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:A_nova_espada_que_o_governo_pretende_apresentar_ao_ex%C3%A9rcito_para_vencer_aos_m%C3%ADseros_escravisados,_que_combatem_pela_sua_liberdade!.jpg), retrieved September 29, 2026 - **Rights:** Public domain (published 1887, before 1931; PD-Art / PD-old-100 per Wikimedia Commons) Revista Illustrada (Rio de Janeiro), no. 468, 22 October 1887, via Wikimedia Commons / Biblioteca Nacional (Brazil) ## Text on the object Original (Portuguese) · checked against a source transcription ``` A nova espada que o governo pretende apresentar ao exército para vencer aos míseros escravisados, que combatem pela sua liberdade! ``` English translation (machine translation by Claude, not verified by a fluent reader) ``` The new sword that the government intends to present to the army in order to defeat the wretched enslaved, who fight for their freedom! ``` The legend is taken from the caption recorded on the Wikimedia Commons file page (file name and description, citing Revista Illustrada no. 468). The hosted crop of the cartoon carries no visible printed text, so it could not be read from the image itself. [← La paz según el Perú – La paz según los chilenos (Peace According to Peru, Peace According to the Chileans)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/la-paz-segun-el-peru-el-banquillo-1880/) [Illustration of the Issuing of the State Constitution in the State Chamber of the New Imperial Palace (憲法發布式之圖) →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/constitution-promulgation-adachi-ginko-1889/) ## Using the same techniques - [Bronze sestertius of Gaius (Caligula), reverse S P Q R P P OB CIVES SERVATOS in an oak wreath](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/sestertius-caligula-ob-cives-servatos-0037/) (0037 · Testimonial, Transfer) - [Gold coin of Kanishka: King of Kings legend, king at the altar, deity Oesho](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/gold-dinar-kanishka-king-of-kings-0130/) (0130 · Transfer) - [Gold solidus of Justinian I, reverse VICTORIA AVGGG with Victory holding a Christogram staff](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/solidus-justinian-i-victoria-avggg-0538/) (0538 · Transfer, Glittering generalities) - [Bayeux Tapestry, scene 23: UBI HAROLD SACRAMENTVM FECIT VVILLELMO DVCI](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/bayeux-tapestry-harold-oath-to-william-1070/) (1070 · Transfer, Card stacking) - [Frontispiece to Eikon Basilike, The Pourtraicture of His Sacred Majestie in his Solitudes and Sufferings (Hollar, 1649)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/eikon-basilike-frontispiece-hollar-1649/) (1649 · Transfer, Glittering generalities) - [Consult of the doctors on the grave illness of the Grand Sultan (Consult vande medicijnen inde swaere siekte vanden grooten Sultaen)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/consult-of-the-doctors-sick-sultan-antwerp-1683/) (1683 · Transfer, Bandwagon) - [The Highlanders Medley, or The Duke Triumphant (A Loyal Song)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/highlanders-medley-duke-triumphant-1746/) (1746 · Name-calling, Transfer) - [Marche du Dom Quichotte moderne pour la deffence du Moulin des Abus (March of the Modern Don Quixote in Defence of the Mill of Abuses)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/dom-quichotte-moulin-des-abus-1791/) (1791 · Name-calling, Transfer)