I AM DISMISSED THE SERVICE BY THE
BRAZILIAN GOVERNMENT--WITHOUT ANY ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF MY
SERVICES--INCONSISTENCY OF THIS WITH FORMER THANKS--THOUGH
DISMISSED I AM TRIED AS A DESERTER--AND AM REFUSED ALL
COMPENSATION--REPORT OF RECENT COMMISSION ON THE
SUBJECT--FALSE REPRESENTATIONS--BUT PARTIALLY TRUE
CONCLUSIONS--MY ORIGINAL PATENTS NEVER SET ASIDE--UNTRUE
ASSUMPTIONS AS TO MY DISMISSAL--MY CLAIMS FOUNDED ON THE
ORIGINAL PATENTS--LESS THAN HALF THE INTEREST DUE
PAID--OPINIONS OF EMINENT BRAZILIANS THEREON--MY SERVICES
TARDILY ACKNOWLEDGED--NO ACT OF MINE HAD ANNULLED THEM--THE
ESTATE CONFERRED, NOT CONFIRMED--PROMISES ON ACCOUNT OF
CHILI UNFULFILLED--THE WHOLE STILL MY RIGHT.
Having been thus unceremoniously
dismissed from the Imperial
service--without doubt, by order of
the Brazilian Ministry to their
Envoy in London, I was some months
afterwards surprised by the receipt
of a letter from the Imperial
Government, dated December 21st, 1825, and
signed "Visconde de Paranagua,"
informing me that His Imperial Majesty
had ordered all my pay and other
claims to be suspended till I should
return to Rio de Janeiro to justify
myself and give an account of my
commission--this being now out of my
power, as I had been deprived of
command, and the frigate in which I
came to England had returned, by
order of the Envoy, to Rio de Janeiro.
Without, however,
giving me time to do this, I received another letter
from the same authority, dated Dec.
30, containing my formal dismission
from the service--this shewing that
Gameiro had previous instructions
to act in the way narrated in the last
chapter.
The following is the official letter
dismissing me from the command of
the Navy, and from the post of First
Admiral:--
His Majesty the Emperor, informed of
that which your Excellency has
set forth in your letter No. 300,
dated the 5th of November last, has
been pleased to determine that your
Excellency shall fulfil the
orders already several times
transmitted to you, and further in
compliance with the order of the 20th
inst., a copy of which I
inclose, you are to return to this
Court, where it is necessary you
shall give an account of the
Commission with which you were
entrusted. His Majesty is much
surprised that, after having taken the
frigate Piranga to a foreign port, and
having there remained in
despite of the Baron Itabayana, you
should have adopted the
extraordinary resolution, not only to
abandon that frigate, but also
to retire from the service of the
Emperor, without having returned
to give an account of your proceedings
previous to your dismissal
from the command of the naval forces,
and from the post of First
Admiral of the National and Imperial
Armada. All which I communicate
for the information and execution of
your Excellency.
God preserve your
Excellency.
Palace of Rio de Janeiro, Dec. 30th,
1825.
(Signed) VISCONDE DE PARANAGUA.
To the Marquis of
Maranhao.
From this extraordinary document it is
plain that Gameiro had written to
the Imperial Government the same
falsehood, as he had used when
endeavouring to seduce Lieut. Shepherd
from his duty to me as his
Commander-in-Chief; viz. that I had
voluntarily retired from the
service, because the Admiralty Court
having condemned me in L.60,000
damages, I durst not return to Rio de
Janeiro! though I announced to
him my readiness to sail in the
frigate. The Jesuitical nature of the
preceding letter amply proves its
object and motive. It does not dismiss
me--but it calls on me to come and be
dismissed! carefully addressing
me, however, as "Marquis of Maranhao,"
and not as First Admiral, thereby
intimating that I was already
dismissed! As there can be no mistake
about the meaning of the document, it
is not worth while to discuss
it--the reason why it is adduced being
to shew that I was not only
dismissed by the Envoy Gameiro, but in
a little more than a month
afterwards by the Imperial Government
itself; which for thirty years
reiterated in reply to my often
pressed claims--that I dismissed myself
by abandoning the service of my own
accord!
Not a word of acknowledgment was ever
given for having a second time
saved the Empire from dismemberment,
though this service was entirely
extra-official, it being no part of my
contract with the Brazilian
Government to put down revolution, nor
to take upon myself the
responsibility and difficult labour of
reducing half the Empire to the
allegiance which it had perhaps not
without cause repudiated--at the
same time, of necessity, taking the
management of the whole upon myself.
This had been done at the pressing
personal request of His Imperial
Majesty, in face of the decree of the
Court of Admiralty that no prizes
should be made within a certain
distance of the shore; so that no
benefit, public or private--arising
from the operations of war--could
result from blockade; yet I had a
right to expect even greater thanks
and a more liberal amount of
compensation in case of success, than from
the first expedition. Not a word of
acknowledgment nor a shilling of
remuneration for that service has ever
been awarded to this day; though
such treatment stands out in glaring
inconsistency with the Imperial
thanks and honours--the thanks of the
Administration--and the vote of
the General Assembly, for expelling on
the first expedition enemies not
half so formidable as were the
revolutionary factions with which I had
to contend in the Northern provinces.
Neither in Brazil
nor in England had I done anything to forfeit my right
to the fulfilment of the explicit
stipulations set forth in the Imperial
patents of March 26th, and November
25th, 1823. His Imperial Majesty had
all along marked his approbation of my
zealous exertions for the
interests of the empire--designating
them "altos e extraordinarios
servicios."--and desired that I should
have the most ample
remuneration; having, in addition to
every honour in his power to
confer, granted me an estate, which
grant was by the Portuguese faction
strenuously and successfully opposed,
and not this only, but every other
recompence proposed by His Majesty as
a remuneration for my services.
The object being to subvert whatever
had been effected by my exertions,
though, but for these the inevitable
consequence would have been the
establishment of insignificant local
governments in perpetual turmoil
and revolution, in place of an entire
empire in the enjoyment of
uninterrupted repose. Had I connived
at the views of the Anti-Imperial
faction--even by avoiding the
performance of extra-official services--I
might, without dereliction of my duty
as an officer, have amply shared
in their favours; but for my adherence
to the Emperor against their
machinations, that influence was
successfully used to deprive me even of
the ordinary reward of my labours in
the cause of independence.
As soon as the
compulsory deprivation of my command, by the Envoy
Gameiro, became known in Rio de
Janeiro--where, doubtless, it was
expected--a great outcry was raised
against me, as though my non-return
had been my own act. The press was set
in motion, and every effort was
used to traduce me in the eyes of the
Brazilian people, from whom the
truth of the matter was carefully
withheld; the whole, eventually,
terminating with a mock trial in my
absence, when it had been placed out
of my power to defend myself. At this
trial I was accused of
contumacy--stigmatised as a deserter,
though, as has just been seen,
formally dismissed by the government,
in confirmation of my dismissal by
the Envoy in England--and not only
this, but I was declared by the
creatures of the administration in the
National Assembly, to merit
punishment as a deserter! Such was my
reward for first consolidating and
afterwards preserving the Empire of
Brazil.
Never dreaming of the advantage which
might thus be taken by the
Administration of the act of their
envoy--on the 10th of February, 1826,
I drew a bill upon the Brazilian
Government for the remainder of my pay
up to the period of my dismissal by
Itabayana. This was refused and
protested, as was also another
afterwards drawn.
This course
clearly indicated the intention of the Administration not to
pay me anything, now that they had
dismissed me from the service. To
have returned then to prosecute my
claims against such judges, would
have been an act of folly, if not of
insanity; my only alternative being
to memorialize the Emperor, which for
many successive years I did
without effect--the execution of the
Imperial will unhappily depending
on the decision of his ministers, who,
little more than five years
afterwards, partly forced, and partly
disgusted His Majesty into an
abdication in favour of his infant
son, Don Pedro de Alcantara, now
Emperor of Brazil; committing the
guardianship of his family to Jose
Bonifacio de Andrada, who, like
myself, had been forced into exile from
the hatred of the very men who had so
bitterly persecuted me, but had
been permitted to return to Brazil
from which he never ought to have
been exiled.
For more than
twenty years did I unceasingly memorialize successive
Brazilian governments, but without
effect. At length the Administration
which had so bitterly visited its
hatred on me passed away, and it
became evident to His present Imperial
Majesty, and the Brazilian
people, that I had been most
shamefully treated. Nearly at the same time
I had fortunately succeeded in
convincing the British Government that
the obloquy for so many years heaped
upon me was unmerited; and Lord
Clarendon warmly espoused my cause, as
did the Hon. Mr. Scarlett, the
British Minister at Rio de Janeiro;
these excellent personages taking
the trouble to investigate the matter,
a boon which I had in vain
solicited from any of their
predecessors; though, had the favour
previously been granted, it would have
had the effect of explaining my
conduct in Brazil as satisfactorily
as, I trust, this volume has done to
the reader.
The result of this
was a commission, appointed by the Brazilian
Government, to inquire into the case
of the squadron generally. The
following is an extract from their
report, so far as regards myself:--
LORD COCHRANE.
The first in rank
and title assuredly is Lord Cochrane, Earl of
Dundonald, and Marquis of Maranhao,
First Admiral and Commander-in-Chief
of the National Armada during the War
of Independence.
The fame of the
services rendered by Lord Cochrane in Chili, as
Commander-in-Chief of the squadron of
that republic induced the
Imperial Government to invite him to
accept a similar command in
Brazil, so long as the War of
Independence should last, with the
promise of the same advantages which
he there enjoyed.
Accepting the
invitation, he was appointed by the decree of the
21st of March, 1823, with the pay of
11.520 milreis, being the same
as he had in Chili, conferring upon
him, by communication of the
same date, the command of the squadron
which was being equipped
in the port of this city; and by
decree of the 23rd of February,
1824, the command-in-chief of the
naval forces of the Empire during
the War of Independence.
It was afterwards
decreed, on the 27th of July, 1824, that he
should enjoy the said pay in full, so
long as he continued in the
service of the Empire; and in case of
his not desiring to continue
therein after the War of Independence,
one half of the said pay as
a pension, which, in the event of his
decease, should revert to Lady
Cochrane.
Lastly, by a
portaria of the 20th of December, 1825, it was
decreed that all his muniments and
rights should be suspended, and
he was dismissed by a decree of the
10th April, 1827.
Justice demands
that we shall acknowledge (says the Commission)
that the services of Lord Cochrane in
the command of the squadron,
put an end to the war more speedily
than had been expected; but if
his services were great, it is
impossible to conceal that unqualified
and arbitrary acts of the most
audacious daring were committed by
him and by the ships under his
command, occasioning to the National
Treasury enormous losses, particularly
by the heavy indemnification
of an infinite number of bad prizes,
which it was obliged to satisfy;
and truth demands that we should
declare that if the pretended
claims are suspended, the fault was
entirely his own, from having
disobeyed the repeated orders of the
Imperial Government, which
commanded his return to this Court to
give account of his commission,
aggravated by the crime of having
withdrawn himself from the
Empire for England with the frigate
Piranga, and there remaining
with that frigate, notwithstanding the
reiterated orders of the
Imperial Government, for more than two
years, pretending that he
had not received the said orders,
which at last were ordered to be
communicated to him through the
Brazilian Minister resident in
London.
All this is amply
proved by different official documents, some of
which documents are from the claimant
himself, this justifying the
suspension of the payment of his
claims, no less than the crime of
his obstinate disobedience; and,
indeed more by the indispensable
obligation by which he was bound to
give accounts of the sums
which he received on account of prizes
to distribute to the squadron
under his command, which distribution
he himself acknowledged in
his letter of the 5th of November,
1825, wherein he says, "I shall
forward to the Imperial Government an
account of the money
received from His Imperial Majesty for
distribution to the seamen,
as well as other sums to the account
of the captors."
Having traced this
outline relative to the services and excesses of
Lord Cochrane, the Commission now
proceeds to discuss his claims.
First,--His annual
pay is 11.520 milreis, which was owing to him
from the 1st of August to the 10th of
November 1825, when he left
the service of the Empire. The
claimant founds his demand on the
decree of the 21st of March 1823,
added to and confirmed on the
27th of July, 1824.
The second decree
says,--"I deem fit, by the advice of my
Council of State, to determine that
the said Marquis of Maranhao
shall receive, so long as he is in the
service of the Empire, the
pay of his patent (11.520 milreis),
and in case of his not choosing
to continue therein after the
termination of the present war, the
half of the said pay, as a pension,
the same being extended, in
case of his death, to Lady Cochrane."
The said enactment being
so positive that at the sight thereof,
the Commission declares, that
it cannot do otherwise than confirm
the right of the claimant to the
prompt payment of the pension due to
him.
In this report there are many
inaccuracies. It is stated that when in
Chili I accepted "the Brazilian
command during the war of Independence"
only.--"Viesse occupar igual commando
no Brazil emquanto durasse Guerra
da Independencia." This is contrary to
fact, as will be seen in the
first chapter of this volume, where
both the invitation to accept the
command, and my conditional acceptance
thereof are given. To repeat the
actual words of the invitation, "Abandonnez-nous,
Milord, a la
reconnaissance Bresilienne--a la
munificence du Prince--a la probite
sans tache de l'actuel Gouvernement--on
vous fera justice" &c. &c. It
was neither "princely
munificence"--"ministerial probity"--nor "common
justice," to dismiss me from the
service without my professional and
stipulated emoluments, or even the
arrears of my pay, the very moment
tranquillity had been established as a
consequence of my exertions, and
so far the Commission decided; though
they ought to have added, as was
well known, that my command in Chili
had been without limitation of
time, and therefore my Brazilian
command, as expressed in the Imperial
patents, was not accepted under other
conditions. The above opinion,
expressed by the Commission, could
only have been given to justify the
spurious decree of Barbosa, in virtue
of which, though set aside by His
Imperial Majesty, I was dismissed by
Gameiro, that decree--under the
hypocritical pretence of conferring
upon me a boon--limiting my services
to the war, after the war had been
terminated by my exertions; the
object being to get rid of me, and
thus to avoid condemning the prizes
captured by the squadron.
Nevertheless, the promises held out to me in
Chili, were most honourably admitted
by His Imperial Majesty and his
first Ministry--and were moreover
twice confirmed by Imperial patent,
counter-signed by the Ministers, and
registered in the National
Archives. These patents have never
been set aside by any act of mine,
yet to this day their solemn
stipulations remain unfulfilled.
The Commission
complains that the Treasury was caused to sustain
"enormous losses by the
indemnification of an infinite number of bad
prizes, which it was obliged to
satisfy." I deny that there was one bad
prize, all, without exception, being
captured in violation of blockade,
or having Portuguese registers, crews,
and owners. But even if they had
been bad--His Majesty's stipulation,
in his own handwriting (see page
118), provided that they should be
paid by the state. The fact was, as
proved in these pages beyond
contradiction, that they were given back
by the Portuguese members of the Prize
Tribunal to their own friends and
relations--this alone constituting the
illegality of the captures.
Some--as in the case of the Pombinho's
cargo--were given up to persons
who had not the shadow of a claim upon
them. The squadron never received
a shilling on their account.
Again, the
Commission declares that I was dismissed the service on the
10th of April, 1827; whereas I have
given the letter of Gameiro,
dismissing me, on the 7th of November,
1825, and the portaria of the
Imperial Government, dismissing me, on
the 30th of December, in the same
year! This renewed dismissal was only
a repetition of the former
unjustifiable dismissals, adding
nothing to their force, and in no way
alleviating their injustice.
The imputation of
"the crime of obstinate disobedience" has been so
fully refuted in this volume, that it
is unnecessary to offer another
word of explanation.
Finally, the
Commission decided that the "Imperial act of July 27, 1824,
is so positive that, at the sight
thereof, the Commission declares it
cannot do otherwise than confirm the
right of the claimant to the prompt
payment of the pension due to him."
But if the Commissioners had
examined this act of His Imperial
Majesty more closely, together with
the explanatory letter of Barbosa,
accompanying it, they would have seen
that the decree of July 27th, 1824,
was not only additive to the
Imperial patents, but admitted to be
confirmatory of them, by Barbosa
himself, notwithstanding his own
spurious decree, nullified by His
Imperial Majesty, but afterwards
unjustifiably acted upon. (See page
150.)
If I have any
claim at all for the numerous and important services which
I rendered to Brazil, it is founded on
the original patents granted to
me by His Imperial Majesty, without
limitation as to time, which I
solemnly declare was not even
mentioned--much less stipulated--as the
patents themselves prove. The decree
awarding me half pay as a pension,
"in case I did not choose to continue
in the service," has no
reference to me. I never left the
service, but--as even admitted by
Gameiro, in his negotiations with
Lieutenant Shepherd--was most
unjustifiably, and by wilful
falsehood, turned out of it, in order to
rid the administration of my claims on
a hundred and twenty ships, and a
vast amount of valuable property
captured in lawful warfare, under the
express directions of His Imperial
Majesty.
Why also is no compensation awarded to
me for my extra-official services
in putting down revolution in the
Northern provinces--an act, or series
of acts--in my estimation, of far
greater importance and difficulty than
the expulsion of the Portuguese fleet
and army? Every historian of
Brazil has spoken in high praise of my
execution of this almost
impracticable task--but coupled with
the infamous lie derived from the
Government that, for my own personal
benefit, I robbed the Treasury at
Maranham of 106,000 dollars; though in
the concluding chapter I will
print in full the receipt of every
officer under my command for his
share of the money returned by the
Junta, the original receipts being
now in my possession for the
inspection of the Brazilian Government, or
of any commission or persons it may
choose to appoint for that purpose.
Were these services nothing, just as
half the Empire had declared itself
Republican? Was my refusal to accept a
bribe of 400,000 dollars from the
revolutionary president of Pernambuco
the act of a man who would
afterwards conduct himself as has been
falsely imputed to me? The
Brazilian Government cannot refuse to
inspect or authorise the
inspection of the originals of
documents contained in this narrative,
and if they consent, I have no fear
but that the national honour will
yet do me justice.
It is not justice
to have awarded to me the above-named pension
merely--even on the assumption of the
Commissioners that I did leave the
service of my own accord--for that sum
is less than one half the simple
interest of the amount of which for
thirty years I was, even by their
own admission, unjustly deprived. This
may be a cheap way of liquidating
obligations, but it is not consistent
with the honour of a nation thus
to delay its pecuniary obligations,
and then pay the principal with
less than half the interest! I feel
certain that when making an
award--which they admit could not be
avoided--the Commissioners
inadvertently lost sight of this
obvious truth.
Let me refer the
Brazilian Government to the officially recorded
opinions of honourable men on the
Commission, or "Seccoes," when
commenting upon this very inadequate
reward about to be given after the
lapse of thirty years of unmerited
obloquy, which would have sunk any
man unsupported by the consciousness
of rectitude to a premature grave.
Senor Alvez Bhanco
E Hollanda declared that "as a commemoration
of the benefits which Brazil had
derived from Lord
Cochrane, there was no other
conclusion than that he ought to be
paid the whole sum which he claimed,
for which the 'Assemblea
Geral' should ask a credit."
Senor Hollanda
Cavalcante, in taking into account the requisition
of Lord Cochrane, was "altogether of
the opinion expressed
by Senor Alvez Branco--that his
Lordship as well as others
should have the whole amount claimed."
Viscount Olinda,
in the Council of State, gave his opinion that
"Lord Cochrane shall be paid the
various demands he has made.
He repeated his opinion that this
course alone was consistent
with the dignity of the Government, or
the services of the Admiral.
He (Viscount Olinda) well remembered
the great services of Lord
Cochrane, and these ought not to be
depreciated by paltry imputed
omissions. It appeared to him little
conformable to the dignity
of Brazil, to enter, at this distance
of time, into questions of
money with one to whom they owed so
much."
Viscount Parana "was of opinion that
no responsibility for
captures rested on the officers who
had made them, they acting
under the orders of the Government,
which took the responsibility
on itself. Justice demanded this view
of the matter, and even
the acquittal of many of the prizes
might be attributed to a
change of Ministerial policy."
Senor Aranjo
Vicuna. "There is no necessity for continuing the
suspension of Lord Cochrane's pay. It
ought to be paid as remuneration
for important services, the benefits
whereof were not diminished
by any subsequent conduct on the part
of His Lordship."
"It was the
opinion of the Council that Lord Cochrane's pension
ought to be paid, notwithstanding any
question as to the limitation
of prizes, or any defects in the prize
accounts."--Correio
Mercantil, Aug. 29, 1854.
Yet
notwithstanding these expressions of opinion, less than half
the interest
of even the limited sum admitted to be due to me was
awarded.
The Commissioners admit in the
preceding Report that my speedy
annexation of the Portuguese provinces
was unexpected, and this alone
should have made them pause ere they
awarded me less than half the
interest of my own money, withheld for
30 years--themselves retaining
the principal--the amount received,
being, in reality, insufficient to
liquidate the engagements which I had
of necessity incurred during the
thirty years of neglect to satisfy my
claims--now admitted to be beyond
dispute. Their admission involves the
fact that the "unexpected"
expulsion of the Portuguese fleet and
army saved Brazil millions of
dollars in military and naval
expeditions against an organised European
power, which only required time to set
at complete defiance any efforts
which Brazil herself was in a
condition to make. It was, in fact, a
question of "speedy" annexation, or no
annexation at all, and it was
this consideration which impelled me
to the extraordinary measures
adopted for the intimidation of the
enemy, in the absence of means for
their forcible expulsion. But is it
generous to reward a service of such
admitted importance, by giving me less
than half the interest of a
sum--acknowledged as a right which
could no longer be withheld?
Is it not
ungenerous to exclude me from my share of the prize-money
taken in the first expedition, though
a prize tribunal is at this moment
sitting in Rio de Janeiro to consider
the claims of officers and men,
nine-tenths of whom are dead? Is it
not ungenerous to have engaged me in
the extra-professional service of
putting down revolution and anarchy in
the Northern provinces, and when the
mission was successfully
accomplished, to have dismissed me
from the Imperial service without one
expression of acknowledgment or the
slightest reward?
But to put
generosity out of the question--is it wise so to do? That,
says Burke--"can never be politically
right which is morally wrong."
Brazil, doubtless, expects other
nations to keep faith with her, and it
is not wise on her part to afford a
precedent for breaking national
faith. The Amazon is a rich prize, and
may one day be contested. What
reply would Brazil give to a power
which might attempt to seize it,
under the argument that she broke
faith with those who gave her the
title to this, the most magnificent
river on the face of the earth, and
that therefore it was not necessary to
preserve faith with her? It would
puzzle Brazilian diplomatists to
answer such a question.
From what has been
adduced in this volume, it must be clear to all who
have perused it with ordinary
attention that Brazil is to this day in
honour bound to fulfil the original
stipulations solemnly entered into
with me, and twice guaranteed under
the Imperial sign manual, with all
the official ratifications and
formalities usual amongst civilized
states. This I claim individually; and
further--conjointly with the
squadron--my share of the prize-money
conceded to the captors by
Imperial decree, without which
customary incentive neither myself, nor
any other foreign officer or seaman,
would have been likely to enter the
service. My individual claim, viz. the
pay stipulated in the Imperial
patents, was agreed upon without
limitation as to time, as is clear from
the expression that I should receive
it whether "afloat or ashore,"
"tanto em terra como no mar," i.e.
whether "actively engaged or
not"--whether "in war or peace." I
have committed no act whereby this
right could be cancelled, but was
fraudulently driven from the Imperial
service, as the shortest way of
getting rid of me and my claims
together. These are no assertions of
mine, but are the only possible
deductions from documents which have
one meaning, and that
incontestible.
I claim, moreover,
the estate awarded to me by His Imperial Majesty,
with the double purpose of conferring
a mark of national approbation of
my services, and of supporting the
high dignities to which--with the
full concurrence of the Brazilian
people and legislature--I was raised
as a reward for those services, the
magnitude and importance of which
were on all hands admitted. To have
withheld that estate, after the
reasons assigned by His Imperial
Majesty for conferring it, was a
national error which Brazil should not
have committed, and which it
should, even now, be careful to
efface; for by approving the dignities
conferred, and withholding the means
of supporting them, it has
pronounced its highest honours to be
worthless, empty sounding titles,
lightly esteemed by the givers, and of
no value to the recipient. Had
this estate cost anything to the
Brazilian nation, a miserable economy
might have been pleaded as a reason
for withholding it; but even this
excuse is wanting. Any territorial
grant to myself could only have been
an imperceptible fraction of the vast
regions, which, together with an
annual revenue of many millions of
dollars--my own exertions, without
cost to the Empire, had added to its
dominions "unexpectedly" as the
Commission appointed to investigate my
claim felt bound to admit. If
Brazil value its national honour, that
blot upon it should not be
suffered to remain.
With regard to the
sum owing to me by Chili, for which, in the event of
its non-payment, both His Imperial
Majesty Don Pedro I. and his Minister
Jose Bonifacio de Andrada made the
Brazilian nation responsible. The
discussion in the National Assembly
testifies to the validity of the
claim, which therefore rests upon the
generosity no less than the good
faith of Brazil, for whose interests,
in accordance with the most
flattering promises, I was induced to
quit Chili. To this day, Chili has
not fulfilled her obligations to me;
the miserable pittance of L.6000,
which--by some process I do not now
care to inquire into, she has fixed
upon as ample remuneration for one who
consolidated her liberties and
those of Peru, supporting her navy at
its own expense during the
operation--constituted no part of my
admitted claim for the capture of
Valdivia and other previous services,
involving no dispute. Payment of
this sum (67,000 dollars) was promised
at the earliest possible period
by the then Supreme Director of the
Republic--but to this day the
promise has never been redeemed by
succeeding Chilian Governments. With
regard to this claim, founded on the
concessions of His late Imperial
Majesty and his Minister, I am
content, as before said, to leave the
matter to the generosity of the
Brazilian nation. The other, and more
important claims, I demand as a right
which has never been cancelled,
and which a strict sense of national
honour ought not longer to evade.
If it be evaded, the documentary
history of the whole matter is now
before the world--and let the world
judge between us. I have no fears as
to its decision. |