Mr. Bryan to Mr.
Hay.
Legation of the United States of America,
Petropolis, Brazil, April
25, 1899.
No. 149.]
Sir: Referring to the subject of my dispatch
No. 146, of the 18th instant, relating to the Wilmington’s cruise without license up the Amazon, I have the
honor to report that during my last visit to the minister for foreign
affairs for the purpose of urging upon him some reciprocity
arrangements, he volunteered to mention the Manaos incident, a subject I
had hoped to avoid discussing until some definite information could be
received from Washington or from the consular agent, Mr. Redman. Dr.
Magalhaes read me all the telegraphic dispatches received by him from
Para and Manaos, referred to in his note of the 22d instant, a copy of
which I inclose with translation. I merely called his attention to the
fact that in our former interview on the subject he had agreed with me
in deeming a permit to navigate the Amazon superfluous, in view of the
decree of December 7, 1866. To this remark he gave an evasive answer.
He, however, appeared to assent to the only other comment of mine, which
was to the effect that it was improbable than Commander Todd had told
the Manaos authorities that he intended to return to Para when he had
announced at that city his intention to go to Iquitos, and had applied
through the governor for a permit to navigate the upper waters of the
Amazon. The minister did not seem to wish to conceal anything from me,
showing me the long telegrams as he read them. He protested (as always)
the greatest friendliness and an earnest desire to preserve cordial
relations between our countries.
I learn from Americans who have lived in Manaos that Mr. Redman, our
consular agent there, has had large business transactions in which his
interests and those of the leading Brazilian officials have conflicted,
resulting in much acrimony on the part of an exgovernor and of a
prominent Congressman. To this feud some attribute the alleged attack on
the consulate after the departure of the Wilmington.
The members of the legation have preserved entire silence on the subject.
The Brazilian people are extremely sensitive to national slights and
errors in matters of courtesy. Happily the incident has so far not been
the subject of much public adverse discussion. * * *
The Department will find on consulting the note of Mr. Hilliard of April
6, 1878, and the answer of the Brazilian foreign office thereto,
referred to in inclosure No. 1, that in that case permission was asked
to send a vessel of the Navy to make a survey, equipped for that
purpose. In this connection I have the honor to send for the information
of the Department a copy of Mr. Dawson’s memorandum of February 24,
1898, and a copy and translation of the reply of the minister for
foreign affairs, referring to the visit of the Wilmington which was contemplated last year. It will be
observed that both note and reply refer to “ports” generally and that no
distinction is made in them between coast and river ports. The
Department’s instruction No. 98, of January 14, 1898, to Mr. Conger and
Mr. Dawson’s reply thereto, No. 113, of February 25, 1898, refer to the
same subject.
I have, etc.,
[Page 117]
[Inclosure 1.]
Dr. Magalhaes
to Mr. Bryan.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
Rio de Janeiro, April 22, 1899.
Referring to the next the last conference I had with Mr. Charles Page
Bryan, envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of the
United States of America, in which he communicated to me the fact
that the American gunboat Wilmington intended
to go up the Amazon River on a visit to our ports of that region, I
informed the minister that the governor of the State of Para having,
on the 16th of March, at the request of the commander of the said
ship, solicited the necessary authorization to undertake the voyage,
I had conceded it, acting in conformity with the sentiments of frank
friendship the Federal Government has for the United States of
America.
On the 19th instant I was informed by the said governor that the
commander of the gunboat Wilmington had left
the port of Belem (Para) before receiving his answer in the
affirmative. In spite of the fact that the governor was authorized
to transmit to the governor of Amazonas the resolution of the
Federal Government, he failed to send it in view of the irregular
proceeding of the commander of the ship-of-war.
The ship was received in the port of Manaos with the formalities due,
and the officers entertained by the local government. The commander,
when making his farewell visit, said to the governor in the palace
that he intended to continue his voyage with Belem as his
destination, and from there to the island of Madeira. Meanwhile the
ship left the port at 10 o’clock at night on the same day, and two
days afterwards, when the packet Rio Grande
came there, her commander communicated to the captain of the port
that he had met the Wilmington going up the
Amazon River in the direction of the Peruvian frontier.
I can not refrain from expressing to the minister the astonishment
that these facts have caused to the Federal Government.
The Government of Brazil, being consulted upon an identical matter by
the Government of Her Britannic Majesty, declared in a note of the
26th of June, 1882, that “the war ships of friendly powers might
enter without any restriction all the maritime ports of the empire,
and that as to the river ports, their entry depends upon a special
concession for each case, there being no convention to the
contrary.”
I further ask the attention of the minister to the note which Mr.
Hilliard, the diplomatic representative of his country, sent to this
ministry on the 6th of April, 1878, relative to the Enterprise, a war ship of his nation, as well
as to the answer which was given to him on the 13th of May of the
same year.
I improve the occasion to have the honor, etc.,
[Inclosure 2.]
Paragraph 1 of memorandum handed by Mr.
Dawson, to the minister for foreign affairs, February 24,
1898.
1. Mr. Dawson informs the minister for foreign affairs that the
light-draft gunboat belonging to the Navy of the United States of
[Page 118]
America, which is now
cruising among the ports of the Caribbean Sea will shortly enter
Brazilian waters, and intends to visit in turn nearly all the ports
of Brazil, beginning in the north, wherever it may not interfere
with the quarantine or other regulations. The United States Navy
Department has selected a vessel of suitable draft so that certain
ports which have rarely been visited by foreign war vessels, and
never by an American, may be reached. I bespeak for the Wilmington the same cordial reception and
courtesy which your excellency’s Government has always accorded to
the ships of my Government, and trust that her visit will still
further strengthen the feelings of friendship and good will existing
so happily between the two peoples. This legation will take pleasure
in informing your excellency of the date of the arrival of the Wilmington at Para as soon as definitely
advised.
[Inclosure 3.]
Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
Rio de Janeiro, April 2, 1898.
Answering the memorandum which Mr. Thomas C. Dawson, chargé
d’affaires of the United States of America, sent me on the 23d of
February last, I have the honor to inform him, as to the subject of
No. 1, that since entrance to all the ports of the Republic is free
to the ships of whatever nationality, whether war ships or merchant
ships, provided they subject themselves to the usual regulations of
the said ports, the war ship Wilmington will
meet a cordial reception in them.
I improve the occasion to reiterate, etc.,
Dionisio de Castro
Cerqueira.
