MISREPRESENTATIONS MADE IN
ENGLAND--LETTER TO THE EMPEROR--TENDERING MY
RESIGNATION--REPAYMENT DEMANDED FROM THE JUNTA--CONDUCT OF
THE PRIZE TRIBUNAL--NO ADJUDICATION OF PRIZES
INTENDED--LETTER TO THE INTERIM PRESIDENT--DEMANDING THE
SUMS OWING TO THE SQUADRON--DISTURBANCE IN PARA--STATEMENT
OF ACCOUNT TO THE JUNTA--OFFER OF COMPROMISE--IMPERIAL
DECREE--RIGHT OF THE SQUADRON TO THE CLAIM.
Worn down in health by the harassing
duties of the naval, military, and
civil departments, the conduct of all
these wholly devolving upon me,
whilst the Ministry at Rio, by
withholding instructions, neither
incurred trouble nor
responsibility--and aware that my character was
being traduced by every species of
malignity which could be devised by
the party whose views were destroyed
by the successful manner in which
those duties had been performed, I was
heartily sick of the ingratitude
and misrepresentation with which the
service of having twice secured the
Northern provinces to Brazil was met
on the part of the Administration,
in addition to their now apparent
determination that neither myself nor
the squadron should reap any benefit
from the prize property taken in
the preceding year, notwithstanding
that, under the Andrada ministry,
both had been solemnly guaranteed to
the captors.
I was, however, even more annoyed on
another account, viz. from being
apprised that the vilest
misrepresentations of my conduct were being
sedulously circulated in England by
the partisans of the Administration.
Their vituperation in Brazil could, to
some extent, be met; but the
petty meanness of attacking a man in a
distant country, without the
possibility of his defending himself,
was a matter against which no
prudence or foresight could guard.
Determined no
longer to contend with an Administration, which could thus
conduct itself towards an officer
whose exertions had been deemed worthy
of the highest honours from the
Emperor, and the warmest thanks from the
National Assembly, I resolved to
request permission from His Imperial
Majesty to retire from so unequal a
contest, for I did not choose
spontaneously to abandon the command,
without at least some compensation
beyond my ordinary pay. Even setting
aside the stipulations under which
I had entered and continued in the
Imperial service--this was at least
due to me from the unquestioned fact
that to my twice rendered
exertions--first as naval
Commander-in-Chief; and, secondly, as a
pacificator--the empire owed its unity
and stability, even in the
estimation of European governments,
which, now that the provinces were
tranquillized and the empire
consolidated, exerted themselves to promote
peace between Brazil and the mother
country.
Accordingly--on New Year's day,
1825--I addressed to the Emperor the
following letter:--
SIRE,
The condescension
with which your Imperial
Majesty has been pleased to permit me
to approach your royal
person, on matters regarding the
public service, and even on those
more particularly relating to myself,
emboldens me to adopt
the only means in my power, at this
distance, of craving that
your Majesty will be graciously
pleased to judge of my conduct in
the Imperial service, by the result of
my endeavours to promote
your Majesty's interests, and not by
the false reports spread by
those who--for reasons best known to
themselves--desire to alienate
your Majesty's mind from me, and thus
to bring about my removal
from your Majesty's service.
Whilst I have the
honour to continue as an officer acting under
the authority of your Imperial
Majesty, I shall ever perform my
duty to your Majesty and to the
Brazilian people; and I trust that,
up to the present day, your Majesty
has not felt any reason to doubt
my sincerity and fidelity to your
Imperial interests. And if his
Excellency the Minister of Marine has
failed to lay before the
public my despatches, and thereby
permitted rumours prejudicial to
my character to go forth, I
respectfully look up to your Imperial
Majesty for justice.
In this hope, I
most respectfully entreat permission to refer
your Imperial Majesty to my letter No.
271, which I addressed to his
Excellency the Minister of Marine,
from Pernambuco, early in
October, previous to my departure from
that port, announcing my
intention of proceeding northward, and
the necessity of so doing, for
the pacification of the northern
provinces; also to my letter of the
13th of October (No. 273), written
from Rio Grande do Norte; and
No. 274, dated October 28th, written
from Ceara; all of which
letters, explicitly describing my
proceedings, intentions, and reasons,
were duly transmitted, both in
original and duplicate, by different
conveyances.
I trust that your
Imperial Majesty will please to believe me to be
sensible that the honours which you
have so graciously bestowed upon
me, it is my duty not to tarnish; and
that your Majesty will further
believe that, highly as I prize those
honours, I hold the maintenance
of my reputation in my native country
in equal estimation.
I respectfully
crave permission to add, that--perceiving it to be
impossible to continue in the service
of your Imperial Majesty, without
at all times, subjecting my
professional character to great risks under
the present management of the Marine
department--I trust that your
Majesty will be graciously pleased to
grant me leave to retire from your
Imperial service, in which it appears
to me that I have now accomplished
all that can be expected from me--the
authority of your Imperial
Majesty being established throughout
the whole extent of Brazil.
I have the honour
to be
Your
Imperial Majesty's
Dutiful and faithful servant,
COCHRANE AND
MARANHAO.
The permission to retire was neither
granted, nor was the request
noticed, yet--notwithstanding that the
ministerial organs of the press
teemed with matters injurious to my
reputation, and displayed the most
unfair comments on my proceedings--no
complaint was officially made to
me, as indeed none could be made; this
ungenerous mode of attack being
resorted to, whilst the whole of my
letters and despatches were withheld
from public knowledge.
On the 3rd of
January, intelligence was received that an outbreak had
occurred at Caixas, promoted by the
adherents of Bruce on learning the
fact of his suspension from the
presidentship. The interim-president,
Lobo, was anxious to re-arm the
disbanded troops against them, but this
I forbade, telling him that, "in my
opinion a military mode of governing
was neither suited to the maintenance
of tranquillity nor the promotion
of obedience to the law, and that it
would be better to give the civil
law a trial before proceeding to
extremities; and that although some
outrages had occurred in the heat of
party spirit, yet they would
probably cease on the intelligence
that President Bruce had embarked
for Rio de Janeiro." The result was in
accordance with these
anticipations, for, on learning this
fact, the insurgents immediately
laid down their arms--being only too
glad to escape further notice.
In the expectation
that His Imperial Majesty would approve of the act,
and that his ministers could offer no
opposition, I considered it my
duty to the officers and seamen of the
squadron, no less than to myself,
to obtain repayment from the Junta of
Maranham--at least in part--of the
sums temporarily left for their use in
the preceding year.
It will be
remembered that after the expulsion of the Portuguese from
Maranham in 1823, considerable sums of
money and bonds had been taken in
the treasury, custom-house, and other
public offices, together with
military and other stores--and the
value of these, though guaranteed by
His Imperial Majesty to the captors,
had, with the consent of officers
and seamen, been temporarily lent to
the then Provisional Government,
for the double purpose of satisfying
the mutinous troops of Ceara and
Piahuy, and carrying on the ordinary
functions of Government--there
being no other funds available!
At the period of
this temporary surrender of the prize property to state
exigencies, it was expressly
stipulated and fully understood that, as
soon as commerce had returned to its
usual channels, and with it the
customary revenues of the province,
the whole should be repaid to the
account of the captors. This had not
been done, and the officers and men
were still losers to the amount, in
addition to the non-adjudication of
their prizes generally by the
Portuguese tribunal at Rio de Janeiro,
which, in unprincipled violation of
the express decrees of His Imperial
Majesty--asserted that "they knew
nothing of prizes, and did not know
that Brazil was at war with Portugal!"
though, in the Imperial order of
March 30th, 1823--given for the
vigorous blockade of Bahia, His Majesty
had explicitly ordered the Portuguese
to be considered as "enemies of
the empire."--"Distruindo ou tomando
todas as forcas Portuguesas que
encontrar e fazendo todas damnos
possives a os inimigos deste Imperio."
It was further
pretended by the tribunal that Bahia and Maranham were
not foreign ports, but parts of the
Brazilian empire, though, at the
time of my appearance before them,
both provinces were then, and ever
had been, in possession of Portugal;
the tribunal, nevertheless,
deciding with equal absurdity and
injustice, that captures made in those
ports, or within three miles of the
shore, were unlawful--this decision
including, of necessity, the
unaccountable declaration, that His
Majesty's orders to me to blockade the
enemy's port of Bahia, and to
take, burn or destroy all Portuguese
vessels and property--were also
unjust and unlawful! although this was
the very purpose for which I had
been invited to quit the Chilian
service. Yet, notwithstanding this
Imperial decision, the tribunal also
most inconsistently condemned all
ships of war taken (as droits) to the
crown, without the slightest
compensation to the captors.
But there was
still a more flagrant injustice committed, viz. that
whilst the officers and seamen were
thus deprived of the fruits of their
exertions, they became liable to about
twenty thousand milreas in the
prosecution of their claims; for no
other reason than the unwillingness
of the prize tribunal to order
condemnations injurious to their friends
and native country; for as has been
said nine out of the thirteen
members of the tribunal were
Portuguese!
It had, therefore, been long apparent
that no adjudication in favour of
the squadron was intended, and that
its services in having united the
empire and saved it from
dismemberment, would only be met by continued
injustice.
As the property
left with the Provisional Government of Maranham had
been used for the benefit of that
province, and as no part of it had
ever been repaid, I determined that
those to whom it was due should not,
at least, be defrauded of that portion
of their claims, or of a
reasonable compromise thereof; and
therefore I addressed to the
interim-president the following
letter:--
TO HIS EXCELLENCY MANOEL TELLES DA
SILVA LOBO,
PRESIDENT INTERINO.
SIR,
The public duties
which I had to perform for the
service of His Imperial Majesty, and
the pacification of this province,
being now happily brought to a
termination, it becomes my duty, as
Commander-in-chief, to call your
Excellency's attention to some
facts concerning the interests of the
officers and seamen under my
command.
On the occasion of
my former visit, in 1823, which was so happily
instrumental in rescuing this province
from the yoke of Portugal
and annexing it to the Empire, I was
desirous of rendering the
service performed still more grateful
to the people by voluntarily
granting, in the conditions of
capitulation, not only my guarantee for
the inviolability of all Brazilian
property then under the Portuguese
flag, but also of all the property
belonging to resident Portuguese
who should subscribe to the
independence of the Empire, and the
authority of His Imperial Majesty.
These conditions were most
scrupulously observed and fulfilled on
my part, without the slightest
infringement in any one instance.
But--on the other
hand--it was expressly set forth in the terms
of capitulation, that all property
belonging to those who remained in
hostility--that is to say, property
belonging to the crown or government
of Portugal, or to absent Portuguese
(though with respect to
the latter a commutation was
subsequently consented to) being,
according to the laws of war, subject
to condemnation to the captors
--should be delivered to the captors
accordingly, to be, by themselves,
subjected to the customary
investigation in the prize tribunals of
His Imperial Majesty.
Amongst other
articles of property of this description were, of
course, included the money due on the
balance of public accounts
to the crown of Portugal, and this
amount--partly in specie and
partly in bills--was held in readiness
by the capitulating authorities
to be delivered when required. But, as
my attention was for some
time solely directed to the
arrangement of public affairs, I neglected
to call for the said balance until the
new Junta of Government,
chosen under my authority, had taken
possession of their office, and
obtained the control of the public
moneys.
After several applications on my part
to the said Junta, and as
many evasions on their part, I had, at
last, a personal conference
with them on the subject--on which
occasion they solicited, as a
particular favour, that I would permit
the amount to remain in their
hands, for the purpose of satisfying
the claims of the troops of
Piahuy and Ceara, whom they
represented as being clamorous for
their pay. To this request I agreed,
under the assurance that I
should receive bills from the said
Junta for the amount. These,
however, they not only evaded
granting, but, when afterwards called
upon for a receipt, they declined
giving any acknowledgment.
To the truth,
however, of the main fact, viz., the claims of myself,
and the officers and men under my
command, your Excellency
has now the power of satisfying
yourself by a reference to the official
documents that passed between the
functionaries of government and
myself, both previous and subsequent
to the surrender of the Portuguese
authorities in this province.
The conduct of
this Junta has proved to be merely a type of that
which we have since experienced on a
larger scale at the hands of
the supreme tribunal of justice at Rio
de Janeiro. But there is a
point beyond which forbearance ceases
to be a virtue, and I now
call upon your Excellency to direct
that the Junta of Fazenda, who
so unjustly and deceitfully withheld
from the officers and men the
property above described, shall, with
all convenient despatch,
proceed to the adjustment of the claim
in question.
An attested copy of the accounts,
signed by the members of the
late Portuguese Junta of
Government--being in my possession, I
enclose a copy thereof, which your
Excellency can cause to be
compared with the original treasury
and custom-house books. I
likewise enclose to your Excellency a
copy of a gracious communication
which I received from His Imperial
Majesty--the original of
which, in His Majesty's own
handwriting, is now in my possession.
This will enable
your Excellency to judge as to what the
understanding and intentions of His
Imperial Majesty really are,
with respect to the claims of the
squadron--when influenced by the
dictates of honour and his own
unbiassed judgment.
Nevertheless--should your Excellency consider it necessary,
Ihave no
objection to prosecute the claims of the officers and seamen
to the balance before alluded to--in
the Court of Admiralty which
your Excellency is about to convene.
But I beg it may be distinctly
understood that I hold myself bound
not to relax in any way
from my determination that these
accounts shall be settled, so as to
enable me to fulfil the duty which I
am engaged to perform to those
under my command.
(Signed) COCHRANE
AND MARANHAO.
To my annoyance Para became the scene
of renewed disturbance, and even
the life of the President was
threatened. This was disheartening, as
evincing a desire on the part of the
provinces to pursue--each its own
separate course; proving the deep hold
which the counsels of Palmella
had taken to promote anarchy by
fostering provincial pride--as a means
to promote discord, and thus to reduce
the newly-formed empire to
insignificance and ruin,--from the
same cause which had befallen the
liberated provinces of Spanish
America.
Not having been furnished with troops,
it was difficult to spare a force
to meet this new emergency. There was
no time, however, for hesitation,
so I despatched the Atalanta to Para,
with a detachment of the best
seamen, under the command of
Lieutenants Clarence and Reed, upon whose
zeal every reliance was to be placed;
at the same time sending a
recommendation to the President to use
the force for the purpose of
remitting to me those who had
threatened his life, and of overawing
those who had been endeavouring to
subvert his authority.
The Junta of
Fazenda having now assembled, I transmitted to them the
following;
GENERAL STATEMENT
Of the money and
other property claimed by the squadron on the
surrender of the Portuguese
authorities of Maranham; in conformity
to the laws relative to matters of
prize, and the gracious
decrees of His Imperial Majesty:--
Together with this
statement of account, I forwarded the following offer
of compromise, on the part of the
squadron, for the payment of
one-fourth only:--
His Imperial
Majesty, having--by decree of the 11th of December,
1822--commanded the seizure and
confiscation of all merchandise in
the custom-houses of Brazil belonging
to Portuguese subjects--all
merchandise so belonging, or the
proceeds thereof, in the hands of
merchants--and all vessels or parts of
vessels belonging to such
subjects--I, therefore, in conformity
with the said decree, having,
on the occasion of the capitulation of
Maranham, directed, that all
persons having property in their hands
of the nature set forth in the
said decree, should deliver in an
account of the same; and the bills
and papers herewith annexed having
been given up by their respective
holders as Portuguese property of the
description set forth, the
said bills and papers are now laid
before the Court of
Vice-Admiralty, in order to the
adjudication thereof in conformity to
the said decree.
But, whereas, the
said Imperial decree could not be enforced at
Maranham in the ordinary manner, by
means of civil officers acting
under the authority of His Imperial
Majesty, by reason of the
port and province being under the
authority and government of
Portugal; And whereas, His Imperial
Majesty, in consideration of
the annexation of the said port and
province to the Empire, by
the naval means under my command--and
generally of other
important services--was graciously
pleased, by virtue of a grant
in his own handwriting, bearing date
the 12th day of February last,
to accord the value of the seizures to
the officers and men as a
reward for their exertions and
services; the said officers and men
agree to surrender these bills and the
property, as set forth in the
annexed list, amounting to
484,196,461, together with all other
claims, for the sum of one-fourth, or
106,000, to be paid by the
Treasury of Maranham by instalments,
within the period of thirty
days from the date hereof.
(Signed) COCHRANE
AND MARANHAO.
The following is the Imperial decree
alluded to in the preceding
letter:--
DECREE.
It being obvious
that the scandalous proceedings and hostility
manifested by the government of
Portugal against the liberty, honour,
and interests of this Empire, and by
the captious insinuations of the
demagogical congress of Lisbon,
which--seeing it impracticable to
enslave this rich region and its
generous inhabitants--endeavours to
oppress them with all kinds of evils,
and civil war, which has occurred
through their barbarous vandalism. It
being one of my principal
duties, as Constitutional Emperor and
Defender of this vast Empire,
to adopt all measures to render
effective the security of the country,
and its defence efficient against
further and desperate attempts
which its enemies may adopt; and also
to deprive, as far as possible,
the inhabitants of that kingdom from
continuing to act hostilely
against Brazil--tyrannizing over my
good and honourable subjects--
deem it well to order that there be
placed in effective sequestration,
1st. All goods and
merchandise existing in the custom-houses of
this Empire, belonging to subjects of
the kingdom of Portugal.
2nd. All
Portuguese merchandise, or the value thereof, which
exists in the hands of subjects of
this Empire.
3rd. All real and agricultural
property, held under the same
circumstances.
4th. Finally, all
vessels or parts of vessels, which belong to
merchants of the said kingdom. There
being excepted from this
sequestration, bills of the national
bank, banks of security, and
those of the Iron Company of Villa
Sorocaba.
Joseph Bonifacio de Andrada e Silva,
of my Council of State,
Minister of the Interior, and of
Foreign Affairs, shall cause the
execution of this decree.
Given in the
Palace of Rio de Janeiro, December the Eleventh,
1822, first of the Independence of the
Empire.
With the Rubrica of His Imperial
Majesty,
JOSE BONIFACIO DE ANDRADE E SILVA.
These
documents--coupled with the decree of Dec. 1822, awarding
theabove
confiscations to the captors--shew so clearly the right of
the
squadron's claim, and the injustice of the course pursued by
the prize
tribunal at Rio de Janeiro, in refusing to adjudge
Portuguese property
to the captors, that further comment
is unnecessary. In order, however,
to give every possible information
relative to a matter which has been,
to me, a cause of so much obloquy, I
subjoin my letter to the interim
President, accompanying the preceding
documents:--
SIR,
I have the honour
to enclose to your Excellency,
two hundred and sixty obligations
seized under the orders of His
Imperial Majesty--dated the 11th
December, 1822--which I
request you will be pleased to cause
to be laid before the Junta of
Fazenda, together with the papers
enclosed, in order that the Junta
may take the necessary steps to the
liquidation of the just and
moderate claims of the officers and
seamen. I further beg your
Excellency will be pleased to intimate
to the Junta, that I cannot
abstain from taking whatever measures
may be necessary to prevent
the violation of the laws and
regulations of the military service--the
infraction of the express engagement
of His Imperial Majesty--and
the consequent disorganization of the
squadron, so essential for the
maintenance of tranquillity, and the
preservation of the independence
of the Empire.
(Signed) COCHRANE
AND MARANHAO.
20th Jan. 1825. |