Since 1789, Brazil's upper classes had planned to separate from the Portuguese royal family. They hoped to lift restrictions on diamond prospecting and gain the freedom to develop local industry—for instance, being allowed to open a gunpowder factory or establish a university of their own. That was the mark of any new nation achieving a cultural victory.
Brazil's white separatists also wanted independence like America, but when the rebellion in Saint-Domingue broke out, their plans for independence were postponed. Instead, the slaves responsible for mining were even more eager for independence. The Jacobins from France spread the ideas of the French Revolution among Rio de Janeiro's intellectual elite, and the Portuguese king persecuted and suppressed them. The mining uprisings and slave revolts dealt a powerful shock to Brazil's colonial society, to the point that an alliance was formed in Brazil through mutual compromise between the propertied classes and Portugal's ruling class.
At present, British merchant ships could not sail directly to Brazil, which was why they valued Trinidad and Tobago so highly. In fact, free ports had another useful purpose. For example, Bordeaux wine from France could be shipped to the free port at Lisbon and secretly sold to Portuguese people who supported France. The Portuguese could then transport the wine to Britain and declare it as Porto wine at customs. That way, Bordeaux wine could enjoy the same tariff concessions as Porto wine.
The Methuen Treaty stipulated only woolen goods and imposed no restrictions on cotton or linen products. Porto had a linen industry. They imported flax from Hamburg, then subcontracted the work to tens of thousands of rural craftsmen north of the city. The population in that region was nearing saturation, while work was exceedingly scarce. The success of Porto's entrepreneurs rested on cheap rural labor paid by