Mr. Hay to Mr. Assis.
Washington , May 29, 1899 .
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note of May 24 relating to the recent visit of the U. S. gunboat Wilmington to the port of Belem, capital of the State of Para, and the incidents connected with this visit.
I note your reference to the assurance of the governor of Para that the United States flag would be, as always, seen with great pleasure in the Brazilian waters, a sentiment in perfect harmony with the friendly intention of the visit to the region of the Upper Amazon, the purpose of which was to obtain information of the commercial possibilities of that promising country. It was expected and believed that a voyage which had no other object than the cultivation of friendly feeling and future enterprise would be received with welcome and appreciation by all the Brazilian officials.
Your note sets forth that, in connection with his friendly greetings, the governor of the State of Para observed to the commander of the Wilmington that, as the river ports were not free to foreign war ships, as are the maritime ports, it would be necessary to obtain permission from the Federal Government before undertaking the voyage. In order to save time, and to be agreeable to the commander, the governor himself offered to solicit by telegraph the said permission, a courtesy which the commander gratefully accepted.
Up to this point there is the most perfect accord between the representations of your note and the reports of this voyage received from the Navy Department, with the exception of a single important item. Your note affirms that the request for permission to sail up the Amazon, made through the governor of the State of Para, was [Page 120] answered immediately by the Federal Government granting the permission, but intimating that it must be demanded by the United States consul at Para because it was the admitted rule in Brazil.
The reports of Commander Todd, of the Wilmington, represent that the American consul at Para was informed by the governor of that State that he would communicate to the Federal Government at Rio de Janeiro by cable the desire of the commander of the Wilmington to proceed up the Amazon. This promise was made on March 15. Four days later the Wilmington left Para for Manaos, the commander having received no intimation that further formalities were necessary, and being assured that the application for permission was a mere matter of form. If, as your note sets forth, permission was immediately granted to the commander of the Wilmington upon the request made through the governor of Para, the permission must have been ready before the Wilmington sailed. As the request for the permission had been made through the American consul four days previous, it is difficult to understand why it had not be communicated or why complaint should be made of the voyage thus permitted, since the permission was requested in due form by the consul, and, as your note declares, immediately granted.
The reports of Commander Todd show most clearly that he believed he had discharged his duty in communicating the circumstances and intention of the proposed voyage of the Wilmington by requesting permission to make it, and by delaying his departure from Para four days after the request had been sent by cable. No objection being offered, and no reply having been received by him, he inferred that there was no impediment to a friendly visit to the waters of a friendly government.
It was not without surprise, therefore, that the commander of the Wilmington learned that the governor of the State of Amazonas declined to receive an official call from him, and to consider his request for permission to pass through the waters of that State. He was equally surprised by the conduct of the captain of the port of Manaos in refusing to furnish him with pilots and in sending him an offensive letter in which the commander was addressed without regard to his rank and title and in a tone of discourtesy. The pilots who piloted the Wilmington were also prohibited from exercising their profession under pain of heavy penalties.
This Government has learned with deep regret that the populace of Manaos so erroneously interpreted the movements of the Wilmington and the action of her commander as to threaten with violence and actually to violate the office of the consular agent of the United States, and to pursue his person with menacing intentions, and considers all the manifestations of unfriendly feeling by officers and citizens of Brazil as wholly unwarranted and undeserved.
The representations of the Brazilian press, also, as appears from extracts sent to this Department, have tended to create false impressions regarding the sentiments of this Government and the conduct of its officers.
The reports which have been submitted to this Department show most explicitly that the commander of the Wilmington had no intention of violating the laws or of offending by action or neglect the authorities of Brazil. His conviction that the neglect to reply was equivalent to a tacit permission, if not correct, was undoubtedly sincere, [Page 121] and was based in great part upon the courteous representations of the governor of the State of Para, from whose language he inferred, perhaps erroneously, that a formal permission after notification of intention was not necessary.
Referring to your suggestion that action should be taken to avoid the repetition of such disagreeable incidents, you may assure the Government of Brazil that further visits of the public vessels of the United States to the inland waters of Brazil are not to be expected until the assurance of a friendly reception is accorded them.
I am confident that when the Government of Brazil is made aware of the lack of courtesy with which an American ship on a friendly visit has been treated in Brazilian waters it can not fail to regret the action of its agents, so much at variance with the sentiments of loyal friendship which animate the Governments of both nations.
Accept, etc.,