Mr. Thompson to Mr. Gresham.
Petropolis, February 1, 1894. (Received March 19.)
Sir: I have the honor to confirm my telegram to you, dated January 29, in which I report an intimation from British minister that he would recommend recognition of the insurgents in preference to recommending the use of force for the protection of British coal interests in the harbor.
This telegram was based upon what occurred at a conference of members of the diplomatic corps held the day it was written.
The insurgents have possession of an island owned by an English firm, Wilson, Sons & Co., and used as a coal depot, from which the gas works of Rio, the Royal Mail Steamship Company, and others receive supplies. The steamship company, an English corporation, and a Belgium company which supplies the gas works, have special deposits of coal on the island. Admiral Saldanha, under the pretext that coal was contraband of war, has denied to the companies the right to land coal in the city. The British minister, Mr. Wyndham, through the senior commander of his squadron, requested Admiral Benham to call a conference of the senior naval commanders with a view of taking some action in the premises.
Subsequently he informed me by note (January 26) that he had heard that the conference had been called and was attended by all the commanders except the Austrian, and that it was agreed that Saldanha da Gama had no right to stop the landing of coal, and that, as he was using force to do so, they should telegraph for instructions to use force. He further stated that the matter was very serious and requested that I attend a meeting of the diplomatic corps on Sunday, which I did. At this meeting Mr. Wyndham suggested that a collective note be sent to the commanders recommending the enforcement of the notice which had been sent to Mello on the 6th of November (reported in my No. 122) against Saldanha da Gama. I declined to join in this note, stating that while I was in favor of enforcing the notice we had never been informed of its abandonment, nor had we [Page 120] been informed in a formal way of the recent action of the commanders. I expressed a willingness, however, to confer with Admiral Benham about the matter, and was requested to do so and to inform him of the desire of the diplomatic corps to have that notice transmitted to Admiral Saldanha. Mr. Wyndham said that he had advised Capt. Rolleston not to telegraph the admiralty for instructions to use force, without giving him notice, in order that he might wire the foreign office at the same time, and that he did not know but what it would be better to recognize the insurgents as belligerents at once than to use force against them, referring at the time to the fact that a state of siege was being prolonged by the Government in several of the most important states in Brazil.
Those present, except myself, seemed to acquiesce in what Mr. Wyndham said, but there was no other definite expressions on the subject. With no intention of examining into the merits of the commercial - arrangement between the United States and Brazil, it can not be denied that it has given to our merchants a leverage of which all Europeans are extremely jealous.
I have, etc.,