Papers Relating to Foreign Affairs, Accompanying the Annual Message of the President to the Third Session Thirty-seventh Congress
Mr. Webb to Mr. Seward.
Sir: The English mail steamer Magdalena, from Southampton, due on the 2d instant, has not yet arrived; and as the mail for Europe closes at Rio tomorrow evening, I am compelled to post my letters to-night, and consequently have no later intelligence from home than was brought by the French steamer of the 25th of May, from Bordeaux. In my letter from Rio on the 27th, after the sailing of the last packet, I found here a despatch from the foreign office, which I enclose. Comments upon its contents are unnecessary. I promptly responded, in a manner which I hope will be deemed acceptable to the department, and I forward herewith a copy of my despatch.
I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant.
Hon. William H. Seward, Secretary of State of the United States.
[Translation.]
The undersigned, of the council of his Majesty the Emperor, minister and secretary of state for foreign affairs, has before him the note which on the 7th of May last past Mr. James Watson Webb, envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of the United States, addressed to his predecessor, the councillor Benvenuto Auguste de Magalhaes Taques, enclosing copy of a despatch which he had received from his government, dated the 18th of March, upon the question relative to the admission of the steamer Sumter at the port of Maranham.
The undersigned has also before him the extract from another despatch of the 3d of April, sent by the same government, which Mr. Webb had the goodness to intrust to him on the 12th of the current month.
In view of the conclusions of the last of the despatches referred to from the government of the Union, the government of his Majesty the Emperor judges convenient to regard at an end the discussion of the subject it treats, it being flattering to observe that from it nothing has resulted in the least altering the relations of friendship and good understanding between the two countries which it so much interests both to maintain.
Thus replying to the note of Mr. Webb, the undersigned avails himself of the opportunity to reiterate to him the assurances of his high consideration.
Mr. James Watson Webb.
[Untitled]
The undersigned, envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary from the United States, has the honor to acknowledge the receipt from his excellency the Marquis d’Abrantes, councillor to his Imperial Majesty the Emperor, minister and secretary of state for foreign affairs, a despatch dated June 16, 1862.
In that despatch your excellency acknowledges the receipt by your predecessor of a copy of the despatch addressed to the undersigned by the Secretary of State of the United States, dated Washington, March 18, 1862; and also an extract from another despatch, dated April 3, 1862; and your excellency is pleased to say: “Having in view the conclusions of the last despatch from the United States government, the government of his Majesty the Emperor thinks it convenient to put an end to this discussion (relative to the protection and material aid rendered to the pirate Sumter by the president of Maranham, and the approval of his conduct by your predecessor) upon the aforesaid subject, it being flattering to observe that not the least alteration will result from it in the relations of friendship and good understanding between the two countries, and which both are so interested in maintaining.”
The undersigned feels that he would not be acting with the frankness which has always characterized his correspondence with this government if he did not correct, however unpleasant the task, the conclusions to which your excellency has arrived as to the feeling which exists on the part of his government in regard to the official conduct of your predecessor and the administration of which he was the organ. And he deems it to be his duty to recall to the more careful attention of your excellency the despatches from Washington, the receipt of which is acknowledged.
In the despatch of the 18th of March, sent by the undersigned to your predecessor, the Secretary of State of the United States says that he laid the entire correspondence between the undersigned and your predecessor before the President, and under his direction recites our cause of grievance as follows:
“The government of Maranham allowed the pirate Sumter to enter that port, to receive shelter for an indefinite period, and to procure supplies by the purchase of coal and provisions in unlimited quantities. This was done when the pirate, prowling in South American waters, had committed depredations upon our commerce there. She used the supplies and provisions obtained at Maranham in making a voyage across the Atlantic, in which she renewed her depredations upon our merchant vessels. The Brazilian secretary of state seems to have had full and accurate knowledge of the character and proceedings of the Sumter, and yet he justifies the conduct of the governor of Maranham.”
“I shall not affect to conceal that this decision seems to me to be inconsistent with the very friendly relations which have hitherto existed between Brazil and the United States, and is therefore in a high degree unsatisfactory.”
Again: “It seems manifest to us that the insurrection which these foreign nations have so unnecessarily and injuriously recognized as a lawful war is alreadily so rapidly shrinking from its first alarming proportions as to render it as easy as it would be just for Brazil to revise the decision which she has made.
“In the meantime, it is proper to remark that every maritime power which has recognized the insurgents as a belligerent, except Brazil, has, on the other hand, adopted stringent means to prevent the entrance of piratical vessels into their harbors, except in distress; and has forbidden their remaining there more than twenty-four hours, or receiving supplies which would enable them to renew depredations upon our commerce.
“The United States do not say that such measures on the part of Brazil would be satisfactory; nor can they consent to ask Brazil for less than the absolute exclusion of pirates from her harbors. Yet such measures, if adopted, [Page 717] would bring Brazil upon the same ground in relation to the United States which is occupied by other maritime powers, and thus would mitigate the discontent which you are authorized to express.”
Here, as your excellency will perceive, is not only grave cause for complaint set forth, but a mode is pointed out in which the friendly feelings heretofore existing between the two countries can be restored, viz: by a simple act of justice, reversing the decision which Brazil has hastily made. If Brazil cannot meet the reasonable expectation of the government of the United States, then the Secretary of State, speaking in the name of the President and the government, claims at least, as a concession to the past friendly relations of the two countries, that Brazil will no longer occupy towards the United States a more unfriendly position than any other power; but, by following the example of other nations, place herself “on the same ground in relation to the United States which is occupied by other maritime powers, and thus mitigate the discontent” which it is made my duty to report to this government.
But this is not all. In a despatch from Washington, dated the 3d April, the undersigned is instructed to say to the government of his Imperial Majesty that the government of the United States, standing “upon the position heretofore assumed,” declare “that the proceedings of the governor of Maranham are intolerable ; and we cannot further debate at Rio, nor can we change the field of the discussion from that capital to Washington.”
And how are these complaints, remonstrances, and friendly intimations to Brazil, from the government of the United States, received by the imperial government. Why the undersigned is called upon to apprise his government that Brazil has “put an end to this discussion upon the aforesaid subject,” and is happy to perceive that “not the least alteration will result from it in the relations of friendship and good understanding between the countries.”
Most assuredly these are not the results which the government of the United States promised itself when it ordered the undersigned to place before the government of Brazil the despatches of the 18th of March, and the very significant extract from that of the 3d of April; and while it is the duty of the undersigned to convey to his government an answer so very different from what he anticipated, self respect demands that he should not act as a mere automaton in the matter; and an earnest desire to restore and perpetuate the friendly relations which formerly existed between the two countries compels him to remind your excellency that so desirable a result cannot be obtained by utterly ignoring our complaints, by treating them as alike groundless and unmeaning, and by assuming that nothing has occurred to interrupt the good feelings or disturb the friendly relations between the two countries. The undersigned is grateful to a kind Providence that in what has occurred the existing friendly relations between the two governments have not been disturbed; but he is not unmindful that the good feelings upon which those friendly relations were based, and which is ever the best safeguard for their continuance, have been trifled with by the conduct of the governor of Maranham, and which conduct has been defended, sustained, and approved by your immediate predecessor, speaking in the name of the imperial government of Brazil. The government of the United States, for more than a year, has been actively engaged in putting down the greatest rebellion recorded in the history of the world. A civil war, which has called into the field more than a million of soldiers, and which imposed upon the government of the United States the raising and equipping of an army of seven hundred thousand men, and a fleet of nearly five hundred vessels, to do battle for our national existence, has called forth the energies and exhibited the resources of a mighty people; and yet, in the hour of greatest peril, our government has not hesitated to tell the nations of the world which have done her wrong, when resistance to such wrong was impossible, that “the United States will not debate with other states a question vital to its own existence,” but content herself with pointing [Page 718] out the wrong done her, leaving for the present the expiation of such wrong and injury solely to the sense of justice and magnanimity of those who once styled themselves friends. Hence, as our Secretary of State justly says, “acting on this principle, we have brought to the notice of the Brazilian government the grievance committed against us by the president of Maranham. That government, instead of giving us redress, or taking measures to prevent a repetition of the grievance, has avowed and sustained it.” Hence the undersigned is instructed to say to the Brazilian government “that while the United States cannot ask Brazil for less than the absolute exclusion of pirates from her harbors, yet standing, as she does, alone among nations, in the extent of her unfriendly attitude, if she would but place herself upon the same ground in relation to the United States which is occupied by other maritime powers, it would mitigate the discontent which you are authorized to express;” and as if foreseeing the failure of this appeal to the friendship and justice of Brazil, the undersigned is ordered to say, in conclusion, that “conscious of our ability to protect all our national rights, we neither importune nor menace any foreign state which may deem it fit to do us wrong; but so fast as every such case matures we determine, with what prudence and firmness we can, the course which the emergency requires.”
Inasmuch as the government of the United States has definitively closed all further discussion of the affair of the pirate Sumter, either here or at Washington, nothing of the kind is intended in this despatch; its sole object being to point out to your excellency that, so far from nothing having occurred to disturb the good feeling upon which is based the friendly relations between the United States and Brazil, the whole course of your predecessor in relation to the visit of the pirate Sumter to Maranham, and the present attitude of Brazil towards the piratical vessels belonging to the rebel States and to our own national vessels, is “considered by the government of Washington untenable, unjust, and “intolerable”
It is quite unnecessary for the undersigned to repeat his ardent desire to draw closer and render more permanent the relations between the United States and Brazil, and the establishment by them of an “American policy,” in contradistinction to what is the recognized policy of Europe, as is being developed by interference with the internal affairs of Mexico; and he is pained to see all his efforts in this regard, and all the wishes of his government, set at naught by the perseverance of Brazil in a course declared by the government of Washington to be more unfriendly that that of any other foreign power; and by ignoring every fact, sentiment, and position taken in the Washington despatches of the 18th March and 3d of April, and utterly refusing to perceive or admit that the United States feels aggrieved by the conduct of Brazil, and confidently expects that she will not persevere in maintaining a position more unfriendly than that of any other maritime power. Adherence by Brazil to her present unfriendly attitude is deprecated by the undersigned, not because he believes such a course calculated to cause a disruption of the peaceful relations existing between the two countries; there exists no such danger. The government of the United States has demonstrated to the world that while struggling for its national existence against a gigantic rebellion it can submit with grace and a not unbecoming humility to the irritating assaults made upon it in the hour of adversity, whether they emanate from ancient enemies or professed friends. But nations, like individuals, while they frequently forgive injuries, do not always forget them. And it is because perseverance in her present course by Brazil may induce the people of the United States to forget the friendly feelings upon which the existing peaceful relations between the two countries are based that the policy of your predecessor is deprecated.
In conclusion, while the undersigned is grieved that there should be any necessity for reminding your excellency that his government does feel greatly aggrieved at the conduct of Brazil, and that there exists good cause for such [Page 719] feeling, he flatters himself that on becoming familiar with what has occurred in the department over which one so distinguished in the history of Brazil has been called upon by the public voice and the wisdom of the Emperor to preside, your excellency will recognize the propriety and justice of revising the action of your predecessor; and he is most happy to avail himself of this opportunity to renew to your excellency the expression of his personal regard and most distinguished consideration.
His Excellency the Marquis d’Abrantes, Counsellor to his Imperial Majesty the Emperor, Minister and Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.