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the part of the Brazilian goverment to do justice to the claims of citizens of the United States which have been pressed upon its consideration from seven to twelve years past; but he is instructed by his government once again to call the attention of the government of his Imperial Majesty to the fact that the government of the United States, in the discharge of its duties, must insist upon an earnest consideration and early settlement of the claims of its citizens in the case of the Nebo, which has now been under consideration nearly eleven years, and in the cases of the Edna and Caroline, which have been pending some seven years. Further delay would virtually amount to a denial of justice, and it would better become the dignity of both governments that such denial of justice should be frank and specific than that these claims should be considered "pending," after their merits have been discussed and conceded. The claimants have a right to be clamorous for their settlement, and they are, in the opinion of the undersigned, quite justifiable in saying to him, as they recently have, "if our government will not protect us in our just claims against foreign governments, then let them pay our claims out of the national treasury. Let it be just to its own citizens, even if it be not able to induce other powers to respect its nationality." The undersigned is quite certain that whatever may have been the causes operating upon the Brazilian government to induce it to treat with apparent neglect, if not contempt, the most urgent appeals of our government for a settlement of the claims referred to, they cannot be founded in any want of respect for the government or people of the United States; and while the extraordinary delay to act in the cases of the Nebo, the Edna, and the Caroline, during a period of from seven to twelve years, has virtually amounted to a denial of justice and caused the government of the United States to be censured by those whom it was instituted to protect, other causes than want of respect for the United States have doubtless produced this strange and unprecedented state of affairs.

The undersigned, therefore, indulges the hope that in reporting to his government that he has obeyed its instructions, and pointed out to Brazil the long suffering of our citizens and the forbearance and patience of the government of the United States, he will be authorized by your excellency to add that the causes for delay in the settlement of our claims, whatever they may have been, have ceased, and that they will be promptly and satisfactorily adjusted. And he avails himself of this occasion to convey to the secretary of foreign affairs the renewed assurances of his great personal regard and most distinguished consideration.

His Excellency the MARQUIS D'ABRANTES,

J. WATSON WEBB.

Counsellor to his Imperial Majesty, Minister and
Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.

[Translation.]

Central Division-No. 2.

MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS,
Rio de Janeiro, July 24, 1862.

The undersigned, of the council of his Majesty the Emperor, minister and secretary of state of foreign affairs, has before him the note which, under date of the 3d instant, Mr. James Watson Webb, envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of the United States of North America at this court, has done him the honor to address to him.

The subject of the note referred to is the late period of that which, under date

of the 16th of last month, the undersigned sent to Mr. Webb in relation to the Sumter question, declaring that, in view of the conclusions of the late despatches from the government of the Union, the imperial government deemed it proper to put an end to the discussion, it being flattering to it to observe that out of this would not result the slightest disturbance of the relations of friendship and good understanding between the two countries which both have so much interest in maintaining.

Alluding to the last-mentioned despatches from his government, and briefly calling to mind all that has taken place in regard to the matter in question, Mr. Webb concludes by saying that the reply which I had the honor to send to him does not seem to him to be in harmony with the state in which the discussion of this affair has remained.

The undersigned will not conceal from Mr. Webb that the imperial government has experienced the greatest sorrow, and at the same time the greatest surprise, in learning that the government of the Union, since the frank expla nations which were given to it, still discovers hostility in the proceeding which the president of the province of Maranham had with the ship Sumpter of the Confederate States.

And because it does not in any way desire that the discussion of such a disagreeable subject should be renewed, the undersigned will only give to this note, in reply to that from Mr. Webb, the exclusive purpose of declaring that the government of his Majesty the Emperor has always entertained, and now entertains, the strong conviction that the president of the province of Maranham has never had the slightest intention of favoring the secessionist States, and still less of being unfriendly or hostile to the government of the Union.

This was the ground, and there could be no other, of the discussion which the imperial government maintained; and it was on this account that, conscious of the sincerity of its intentions, and persuaded that that sincerity would be comprehended by the government of the Union, it hesitated not in considering the discussion at an end, flattering itself that out of this would not result the slightest disturbance of the relations of friendship and good understanding subsisting between the two countries.

To what has been stated the undersigned will merely ask Mr. Webb's permission to add that the principles of neutrality adopted and followed by the imperial government in the contest of which the North American Union is the theatre are those which are laid down in the note from this ministry addressed to Mr. Webb on the 23d of January of the present year, and in the circular of the 1st of August of last year, issued by said ministry to the delegates of the imperial government in the provinces.

These principles being perfectly identical with those which are adopted and followed by other maritime powers, and having to be scrupulously carried into effect, it becomes evident that Brazil has had no intention of placing herself in an exceptional position towards the government of the Union in the deplorable contest in which it is engaged.

In the hope that these explanations will satisfy Mr. Webb, the undersigned avails himself of the opportunity to reiterate to him the assurances of his high MARQUIS D'ABRANTES.

consideration.

Mr. JAMES WATSON WEBB

No. 22.]

Mr. Webb to Mr. Seward.

LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES,
Petropolis, August 23, 1862.

SIR: The case of the four rebel vessels in the port of Rio Janeiro has already been brought to your notice, both by the consul and myself, but as yet no instructions have reached me or the consulate in regard to them. The agent of the owners and the consignees having been foiled in their first movement, inaugurated another which will be brought to a close to-day. On the plea of indebtedness contracted to a citizen of Brazil, they obtained a decree for the sale of these vessels this day. The decree was not published until the 19th, and on the fol lowing morning I addressed to the foreign office a despatch, a copy of which is enclosed, marked No. 1, and to the acting consul the instructions marked No. 2. There will not be time to report the result by this steamer, but I feel a conviction that the sale will be suspended.

*

I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD,

J. WATSON WEBB.

Secretary of State.

[Enclosure No. 1.]

LEGATION OF the United STATES,

Petropolis, August 20, 1862.

The undersigned, envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary from the United States, feels it incumbent on him to call the attention of his excellency the Marquis d'Abrantes to a fraudulent attempt of certain parties to change the flag of certain vessels belonging to subjects of the United States, contrary to the laws of the government of the United States regulating the mode in which the flag of the government may be transferred in foreign ports to another nationality, by becoming the property of citizens of the same. The law of the United States provides that an American vessel can only be sold in a foreigu port in the presence of, and with the assent in writing of the United States consul; and it prohibits his giving such assent until a power of attorney from the owners, duly executed before the proper tribunals, shall have been filed at the consulate authorizing such a transfer of property; and unless the conditions of said law are fully complied with, it is made the duty of the consul to withhold from any vessel so attempted to be transferred, even to citizens of the United States, the necessary papers to insure her departure from the foreign port in which she happens to be at the time of the contemplated transfer. And it is utterly impossible, by any fraudulent proceeding in the ports of foreign powers, to change the nationality of an American vessel and transfer her to another flag, except in accordance with the law under which she is licensed to sail, and which gives her the protection of its flag. An attempt to do so demands the interference of the representative of the country whose flag is about being fraudulently diverted from the protection of American property in violation of American laws; and such representative being powerless to prevent such a fraudulent procedure per se, has a right to demand of the government to which he is accredited the interposition of its authority to protect the international rights of his government in foreign ports.

There are now lying in the port of Rio Janeiro four vessels belonging to citizens of the United States, who are in rebellion against the laws and institutions of their country, and whose property is liable to confiscation as traitors. These vessels, however, sailing with American papers, and under the flag of the United States, and for the time being lying in the port of Rio Janeiro, cannot be seized in said port; although having no existence, except as American bottoms with American registers, and protected by the American flag, they are in conformity with international law subject to the laws and regulations of the country to which they belong. Conscious of this well established fact, their owners, some months since, sent to Rio Janeiro an agent to sell said vessels to whomsoever might be disposed to purchase them, and an advertisement accordingly appeared in a public newspaper offering them for sale at public auction. Khe consul of the United States therefore, by direction of the undersigned, caused a notice to be published in the said newspaper, and to be read to the public at the time of sale, setting forth that any such sale would be illegal and void, because, according to the laws of the United States, no transfer of an American vessel can be made in a foreign port, except in the presence of and with the consent of the consul. The sale progressed, and it was pretended that the vessels were regularly sold to an actual and bona fide purchaser. This pretence, however, resorted to to cover an attempted fraud, was shortly abandoned, and the agent of the rebel owners presented himself at the United States consulate with a power of attorney, which he claimed to have filed in the office, and demanded that the consul should give his sanction to another and legal sale. His papers were discovered to bear upon their face evidence that they had been executed in a foreign country unknown to the officials of the United States, and before parties not recognizing allegiance to the United States, and therefore the United States consul, with the approbation and by the advice and direction of the undersigned, refused to recognize such power of attorney, or to give his sanction to the sale and transfer of the said vessels.

Since then it has come to the knowledge of the undersigned that it was the intention of the agent of the rebel owners to permit the vessels referred to to contract debts to Brazilian citizens, then obtain judgments against them, and a decree for their sale, and thus fraudulently transfer them to British subjects, and take them out of the port of Rio Janeiro under the flag of England; the whole proceeding being under the directions of an English mercantile house who have the vessels in charge. This game, fraudulent alike in its conception and progress, has, it appears, been fully played out; and in the face of the United States consul's public notice that he would not consent to any sale of said vessels, and in the face of the public and notorious fact that a public sale of these vessels at auction was made and abandoned, because no legal title could be given for them to the purchaser without the consent of the United States consul, it is pretended that debts have been contracted by the vessels, and a judge of a Brazilian court has been found ready to decree the sale of said vessels at public auction on the 23d of the present month of August, that is, on Saturday next. This decree bears date the second day of August, but it only came to the knowledge of the undersigned on the night of yesterday, the 19th instant, a copy of which is hereby forwarded.

The undersigned does not pretend to know what is the Brazilian law in the premises; but he protests most solemnly against this most flagrant attempt under color, but not with the sanction of the Brazilian authority, to withdraw four American vessels from under the flag of the United States and to transfer them to another nationality. If any merchant or other inhabitant of Rio Janeiro had innocently given a credit to these vessels, the fact of having done so could not militate against the jurisdiction of the United States in the matter; but it must be obvious that the alleged indebtedness, which it is susceptible of proof does not exist, (because the amount for freight received on their cargoes to this port,

.

now in the hands of their consignees, exceeds five-fold any expenses they may have incurred,) is a mere fiction, and designed to cover a contemplated fraud; and therefore under no circumstances is it entitled to consideration in a Brazilian court of justice. But even were it otherwise, and the claim ever so just, the laws of the United States are paramount in the premises. The vessels could not be here, because they would be without a nationality, but that they possess American registers, and are enrolled under and protected by the United States flag. These registers are given and the protection of the American flag is afforded them, on condition that they comply in all respects with the laws of the United States. Those laws, as the people of Rio Janeiro have been publicly informed, prohibit any sale of the vessels publicly or privately, for debt or otherwise, except in the presence, and with the sanction of the United States consul. And consequently, if a bona fide credit had been given the vessels, it would have been at the peril of the party giving it, because it is absurd to claim that by such credit, whether bona fide or fraudulent, the laws of the United States in relation to its commercial marine could be set aside by an extrajudicial proceeding in a foreign court, and its flag pulled down and a foreign flag hoisted in its place over every American ship which visits a port of Brazil whenever it may suit her consignees to despoil our commercial marine of its ships, through a fraudulent connivance with those interested in consummating a fraud. If the flag of the Union cannot protect American shipping in Brazilian ports, and if the laws of the United States in regard to its commercial marine cannot be longer respected by the subordinate authorities of Rio Janeiro, in the opinion of the undersigned it becomes the duty, as he is certain it will be the pleasure, of the imperial government to interpose and compel those authorities to recognize their subserviency to the international law. It is idle to quote any previous practice in such a case as is now presented for consideration. These vessels, as property, have no existence but from their official papers, and the permission to sail under and enjoy the protection of the American flag. As a condition of the vitality thus created and the protection thus afforded, they are compelled to regard, and be subservient to, the laws of the United States. Those laws prescribe in what manner such property may be transferred in a foreign port; and yet we have presented the spectacle of a subordinate court of Brazil loaning itself to a fraudulent attempt to violate the laws and dishonor the flag of the United States.

The undersigned, therefore, feels assured that, however unpleasant the task of complaining of the local courts of Rio Janeiro, it is only necessary to appeal to the justice of the imperial government, and to call its attention to the fraud about being perpetrated, and to serious complications which may arise from its being consummated, to induce a prompt interference by those whose duty it is to frown down any such proceeding, as grossly unjust as well as criminal, and at war with the friendly relations existing between the United States and Brazil. He, therefore, protests most earnestly against the proposed outrage upon the flag and the laws of the United States, and calls upon the authorities to prevent it, either by suspending the action of the court in relation to the sale of these vessels, or by a notice at the place and time of sale, that they will not now, or at any future time, be permitted to clear from the port of Rio Janeiro, except under the flag and with the papers of the United States, unless transferred from their present ownership with the sanction and in the presence of the consul of the United States.

The undersigned avails himself of this occasion to renew to his excellency the distinguished minister of foreign affairs the assurances of his cordial esteem and most profound consideration.

J. WATSON WEBB.

His Excellency the MARQUIS D'ABRANTES,
Counsellor of his Imperial Majesty, Minister and
Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.

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