Editing Arthur de Gobineau (section)

=== Minister to Brazil ===
In 1869, Gobineau was appointed the French minister to Brazil.{{sfn|Skidmore|1993|p=30}} At the time, France and Brazil did not have diplomatic relations at an ambassadorial level, only legations headed by ministers. Gobineau was unhappy the Quai d'Orsay had sent him to Brazil, which he viewed as an insufficiently grand posting.{{sfn|Skidmore|1993|p=30}} Gobineau landed in [[Rio de Janeiro]] during the riotously sensual [[Rio Carnival|Carnival]], which disgusted him. From that moment on he detested Brazil, which he saw as a culturally backward and unsanitary place of diseases. He feared falling victim to the [[yellow fever]] that decimated the population of Brazil on a regular basis.{{sfn|Skidmore|1993|p=30}} Gobineau's major duties during his time in Brazil from March 1869 to April 1870 were to help mediate the end of the [[Paraguayan War]] and seek compensation after Brazilian troops looted the French legation in [[Asunción]]. He did so and was equally successful in negotiating an extradition treaty between the French Empire and the Empire of Brazil. He dropped hints to Emperor [[Pedro II of Brazil|Pedro II]] that French public opinion favored the [[emancipation]] of Brazil's slaves.{{sfn|Biddiss|1970|p=201}} As slavery was the basis of Brazil's economy, and Brazil had the largest slave population in the Americas, Pedro II was unwilling to abolish slavery at this time.

As most Brazilians have a mixture of Portuguese, African and Indian ancestry, Gobineau saw the Brazilian people, whom he loathed, as confirming his theories about the perils of miscegenation.{{sfn|Skidmore|1993|p=30}} He wrote to Paris that Brazilians were "a population totally mixed, vitiated in its blood and spirit, fearfully ugly ... Not a single Brazilian has pure blood because of the pattern of marriages among whites, Indians and Negroes is so widespread that the nuances of color are infinite, causing a degeneration among the lower as well the upper classes".{{sfn|Skidmore|1993|p=30}} He noted Brazilians are "neither hard-working, active nor fertile".{{sfn|Skidmore|1993|p=30}} Based on all this, Gobineau reached the conclusion that all human life would cease in Brazil within the next 200 years on the grounds of "genetic degeneracy".{{sfn|Skidmore|1993|p=30}}

Gobineau was unpopular in Brazil. His letters to Paris show his complete contempt for everybody in Brazil, regardless of their nationality (except for the Emperor Pedro II), with his most damning words reserved for Brazilians.{{sfn|Skidmore|1993|p=30}} He wrote about Brazil: "Everyone is ugly here, unbelievably ugly, like apes".{{sfn|Skidmore|1993|pp=30–31}} His only friend during his time in Rio was Emperor Pedro II, whom Gobineau praised as a wise and great leader, noting his blue eyes and blond hair as proof that Pedro was an Aryan.{{sfn|Skidmore|1993|p=30}} The fact Pedro was of the [[House of Braganza]] left Gobineau assured he had no African or Indian blood. Gobineau wrote: "Except for the Emperor there is no one in this desert full of thieves" who was worthy of his friendship.{{sfn|Skidmore|1993|p=31}}

Gobineau's attitudes of contempt for the Brazilian people led him to spend much of his time feuding with the Brazilian elite. In 1870 he was involved in a bloody street brawl with the son-in-law of a Brazilian senator who did not appreciate having his nation being put down.{{sfn|Skidmore|1993|p=31}} As a result of the brawl, Pedro II asked Paris to have his friend recalled, or he would declare him ''persona non-grata''.{{sfn|Skidmore|1993|p=31}} Rather than suffer the humiliation of this happening to the French minister the Quai d'Orsay promptly recalled Gobineau.{{sfn|Skidmore|1993|p=31}}