Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, Transmitted to Congress, With the Annual Message of the President, December 4, 1876

No. 234.
Mr. Moran to Mr. Fish.

Legation of the United States,
Lisbon , March 27, 1876. (Received April 18.)

No. 69.]

Sir: On the 9th instant, I addressed a note to Mr. Corvo, in compliance with the instructions in your No. 30, of the 15th of February, conveying to His Most Faithful Majesty’s government the congratulations of the President on the passage by the Cortes of the act of emancipation of the 29th of April, 1875; at the same time intimating the pleasure he would feel on hearing of the actual abolition of slavery in the Portuguese colonies, as provided by the act in question; and I added the expression of my belief that the realization of that pleasure would be hastened by the project of law of the 4th of January, 1876, by which the immediate liberation of all persons then in a servile state in the province of St. Thomas and Principe was provided. Mr. Corvo replied on the 13th instant, thanking me for my note and for the reference I made to his exertions in securing the enactment of the proposed law. I inclose copies of this correspondence.

The project of the 4th of January, to which I have referred, was passed by a large vote of the Cortes, although considerable opposition existed to it on the part of some of the landed proprietors of St. Thomas, became a law of the realm by royal proclamation on the 3d of February, and is now in full force. It consists of three brief articles, as follows:

• Article 1. “The servile state described in the decree of the 25th of February, 1869, is considered extinct in St. Thomé from the date of publication of the present law in the said province, and those to whom it referred are considered free.”
• Art. 2. “All the dispositions contained in the charter of law of the 29th of April, 1875, and the regulations appended thereto approved by decree of the 20th of December of the same year, shall immediately be put into force in the said province.”
• Art. 3. “All legislation to the contrary is hereby revoked.”

It will be seen that this act gives immediate liberty to all the persons in St. Thomas and Principe known as “freedmen” and “apprentices,” instead of holding them to their contracts for one year after the publication of the law of April, 1875. That law was not promulgated in St. Thomas until the 3d of July last, and consequently would only have come into force on the 3d of July of this year, had not the project of the 4th of January given it instantaneous effect.

Some interested persons have tried to throw doubt upon the sincerity of the intentions of this government to carry out these measures of emancipation, but I regard such doubts as grossly unjust. The government is in earnest, and the result of their action will demonstrate this to the world.

I have, &c.,

BENJAMIN MORAN.

[Inclosure 1 in No. 69.]

Mr. Moran to Mr. Corvo.

Legation of the United States,
Lisbon , March 9, 1876.

Sir: I have the honor to acquaint your excellency that I did not fail to transmit promptly to my Government a copy of the letter which you addressed to me on the 1st of January last, together with a translation thereof, expressing the deep sense of His Most Faithful Majesty’s government of the recognition by the President of the United States, in his late annual message to Congress, of the Portuguese act of emancipation of the 29th of April, 1875; and I now have the pleasure to inform you that your note was received with satisfaction by the President, and that he has been pleased to direct Mr. Fish to express to His Most Faithful Majesty’s government, through me—a duty which I now cheerfully perform—the gratification that will attend the actual abolition of slavery in the Portuguese colonies as provided by the act in question, a gratification the realization of which, I venture to add, will be hastened by the decree of the Cortes of the 4th of January of the present year, which extends the provisions of the act of April, 1875, to the island of St. Thomas, and which decree was, I believe, passed through your excellency’s energy and able advocacy of the cause of freedom.

I avail myself of this opportunity to renew to your excellency the assurances of my highest consideration, and

I am, with great respect, your excellency’s most obedient servant,

BENJAMIN MORAN.

His Excellency João de Andrade Corvo, &c., &c.

[Inclosure 2 in No. 69.—Translation.]

Mr. Corvo to Mr. Moran.

ministry of foreign affairs—political department.

I have had the honor to receive the note which your excellency addressed to me, dated the 9th instant, informing me that you forwarded to your Government a copy and translation of my note, dated the 1st of last January, with reference to the act of April 29, 1875, which abolished slavery in all the ultramarine provinces of Portugal; in which letter your excellency, acquainting me with the congratulations of the President of the United States of America on the happy results which must ensue from such important provisions for the prosperity of the same possessions, congratulates me on promulgation of the new law which at once abolishes slavery in the province of St. Thomé and Principe.

Thanking your excellency for the expressions employed by you in my favor in the note to which I allude; and for which I am so deeply indebted, I beg to inform your excellency that I shall not fail to acquaint the minister of marine with its contents.

I avail myself of this occasion to renew to your excellency the assurances of my highest consideration.

Office of the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, March 13, 1876.

JOAO DE ANDRADE CORVO.

Benjamin Moran, Esq., &e., &c., &c.