Having secured the copy only on the eve of the departure of the mail, I have
not been able to confer with Admiral Benham about it.
My recollection is that no discharge of cargoes from ships with? lighters and
tugs was made during the interim between the date of the announcement by
Admiral Saldanha da Gama that he would endeavor to stop the passage of goods
to the custom-house and the action of Admiral Benham which caused the
withdrawal of the restriction. A few American ships came to the docks on
their own responsibility and were successful in discharging and taking on
cargoes without interference during that time.
[Inclosure in No.
161.—Translation.]
Rear-Admiral da
Gama to Rear-Admiral Benham.
On
board the Cruiser Liberdade,
January
30, 1894.
Your Excellency the Commander-in-Chief
of the North American Naval Forces:
All ships lying in this port, both war ships and merchantmen, were
witness of the grave and open opposition that the navy, under my
command, suffered yesterday morning from the naval forces under the
command of your excellency Rear-Admiral Benham, of the U. S. Navy.
Starting from the principle that the revolutionary element in Brazil, of
which the fleet that operates in this port is but a factor, has not yet
been recognized as belligerents, and basing on this the duty of
protecting, quand même, the maritime commerce
under your country’s flag, your excellency believed it lawful to use
with ostentation the important naval force under your command and
obliged the revolutionary fleet to consent that three North American
merchant ships, instead of effecting their discharge on anchor, do it
alongside this city’s wharves.
The measures adopted by the forces under my command have never been of a
nature offensive to the interests of foreign maritime commerce. On the
contrary, they have constituted a modus vivendi, in accordance with
which, in return of the
[Page 128]
merchant ships not getting alongside the wharves, for it would embarrass
our military operations, we agreed in allowing tow boats, launches, and
discharging lighters, which, as Brazilian bottoms, are liable to be
seized by us, to do their work in port under the protection of foreign
flags.
These measures have been so far accepted and respected by the commanders
of foreign naval forces lying in this port, including those of the U. S.
Navy, which has been represented here, we might say, from the beginning
of the present situation.
The delay of our recognition as belligerents by the foreign nations
having transactions with Brazil, though not giving us privileges granted
by international law, can not prohibit us, however, of using vigilance
in behalf of our defense and maintenance. If Ave have no legal existence
in its exact international meaning, our existence in fact as combatants
for nearly half year in the port of the country’s capital in face of the
center of our adversary’s power can not, however, be denied. The case is
entirely new. For the first time a revolutionary force is maintained
such a long time inside a harbor in situation of preventing all its
movement.
But your excellency Rear-Admiral Benham did not understand so. On the
pretention, as he asserts, of protecting by all means American maritime
commerce in whichever way it suit your excellency, through your imposing
attitude of yesterday, puts us in the choice of either fighting with the
nation that he represents, which is not our intention nor our desire
when we are fighting to free our country of a dictatorial government, or
break on our part, and in the only interest of his countrymen, the modus
vivendi accepted up to this date.
Leaving on one side the moral offense resulting from the action, and
against which I protested yesterday by voice of cannon and by panic, it
remains now to be known whether this alteration of the modus vivendi
agreed for will not modify it completely.
On the face of the demonstration, against which I can not pretend in this
moment react by force as well, I have to consent in future in allowing
American ships to get alongside the Trapiches,
and this, by the principle of impartiality, gives the right of granting
the same advantage to all other foreign merchant ships that come to this
port.
Therefore the concessions which relatively to the shipping in this harbor
we believe to be fair to allow for the benefit of foreign maritime
commerce by intervention of the same commanders of the respective naval
forces are canceled and against our interests.
As your excellency will have to judge how unjust and disadvantageous this
situation is for ourselves who believe to be fighting for a noble and
national cause, we beg your excellency to accept the assurance of our
great esteem and respect.
Luiz Phillippe Saldanha da
Gama,
Commander-in-Chief of the
Forces in Revolution against the Government of Marshal Floriano
Peixoto in the Port of Rio de Janeiro.
