The Sun.
London, England, 1863-06-26 00:00:00

THE BRAZILIAN QUESTION.

The following is the report (or conde rendu) of
the Brazilian Minister for Foreign Affairs, the
Marquis of Abrantes, to the Brazilian Parliament,
in the present session of the legislature, concern-
ing the relations of the Imperial Government with
that of Great Britain :

The grave events which passed in this capital in connec-
tion with her Britannic Majesty's legation, on account of
the shipwreck of an English barque on the inhospitable and
wild coast of Albardao, in June, 1861, as well as of the con-
flict between the police and some officers of the frigate the
Forte, in one of the suburbs of this city, in the June of
last year, are public and notorious facts.
The first of these questions was one of a very special na-
ture, and only with time and perseverance could a satisfac-
tory result be arrived at upon the same.
The authorities of the province of St. Pedro of Rio Grande
do Sul had to struggle with immense difficulties in their in-
quiries about the crimes said to have been committed at
Albardao, consequent on the misfortune of the Prince of
Wales.

Robberies had been there committed, and her Britannic
Majesty's consul in that province even presumed the crew
to have been murdered.

This last circumstance was a very grave one; it was ne-
cessary to ascertain it, as well as the importance and extent
of the robberies.

This matter engaged at once the utmost solicitude of the
Imperial Government before having received any recla-
mation on the part of her Britannic Majesty's legation.
The first orders were given on the 10th August, and the
initial note of the legation has the date of October 25.
By the inquests and examinations instituted on the
corpses that could be found, it was prima facie shown that
the inductions which led the British agent to believe the
crew to have been the victims of the assassin's dagger did
not go beyond mere conjecture.
The depredation had happened on a desert shore, far from
the immediate action of public authority.
Those who had taken part in the plunder had been able
to transfer themselves out of the territorial limits of the
empire.

The scanty inhabitants of these places would not easily
lend their aid to the most instant official investigations.
The delay, therefore, in the respective proceedings was
nothing to be wondered at. Eleven individuals were never-
theless found implicated criminally. These having fled to
the Oriental State it was necessary either to demand their
extradition, or to wait for their return to within the limits
of the empire, there to answer before the justices of the
country.
The necessary measures were prosecuted for the purpose,
and, by these means, also fulfilling a duty to public morals,
satisfaction was offered also to the reclamations of her Bri-
tannic Majesty's Government.
As to the other matter —the alleged ill-treatment and in-
sults said to have been committed by a detachment of the
police authorities of the empire upon three officers of the
British navy, the Imperial Government could not lend im-
plicit faith to the mere allegations of the complaining par-
ties, which were not supported by any other proof, and take
no notice of the depositions of those Brazilian agents, cor-
roborated by persons entirely strangers to the dispute.
These depositions, even if susceptible of being impugned,
revealed at least the following fact—that there had existed
no intention whatever of insulting the British navy.
In this state of the question the exchange of reciprocal
explanations might have also terminated in a satisfactory
wanner the misunderstanding arising from the different ap-
preciation of the facts, as seen from the respective reports
and interrogatories of the interested parties.
It was, therefore, with the greatest surprise that the Im-
perial Government received the notes which the legation of
her Britannic Majesty addressed to them, in the name of its
Government, on the sth of December ultimo, declaring
that they made the Government of his Majesty the Em-
peror responsible for the proceeding of its authorities in
the two cases alluded to ; exacting, as a consequence of
this responsibility, not only a pecuniary indemnity, to
be ultimately determined, for the losses suffered by the
owners of the vessel shipwrecked, and for the total
robbery of the cargo thrown ashore, and of the objects
belonging to the crew, but also a satisfaction for the dis
courteous manner in which the officers of her Britannic
Majesty's navy had been treated.
Such unexpected proceeding was the more surprising, as
the Brazilian Minister in London hod received not the
least intimation of the grave difficulties that wore going to
arise in the relations between the two countries.

In such circumstances, and it having been found impos-
sible to convince her Britannic Majesty's representative at
this court of the want of proper grounds for the two claims
alluded to, considering the manner of his behaviour in the
discussion of these matters, and all hope having been lost
of his consenting to reconsider them in order to arrive at
an accord satisfactory to the dignity of the two countries
the Imperial Government thought that the sole course re-
maining open to them was to enter directly into explana-
tions with the Government of her Britannic Majesty by
means of our representative in London, suspending in the
meantime the effects of the said notes.

But this resolution having been taken, and the Imperial
Government having communicated it to Mr. Christie, this
Minister declared that his notes of the sth of December
were already his Government's ultimatum, and that, accord-
ing to his instructions, in case the demands contained
therein wore not promptly complied with, he would hand
over the affair to the admiral in chief of the English station
in this capital.

I then had several conferences with her Britannic Majes-
ty's Minister. I offered him fresh explanations—exposed to
him more completely and with greater development the
circumstances concerning both questions, adding that even
if, admitting to a certain extent the apprehensions and ap-
preciations (though inexact) manifested in the same ques-
tions on the part of her Britannic Majesty's authorii,
they did not call for such a solution as was sought to be
given them by the said notes of the sth December.
All my efforts, however, were in vain to avert the incal-
culable evils that were to result from tho resolutions already
determined upon.
I was, therefore, forced to declare to him, in the name of
the Imperial Government, that if, in spite of all I bad re-
presented to him, the Minister insisted on giving effect to
the ultimatum of his Government, the Government of his
Majesty the Emperor would have no alternative but—sav-
ing above all the national dignity—protesting in the most
solemn manner against the strange principles thus sought
to be established, and perfectly convinced of the justice of
their cause—but which they had not the means of uphold-
ing—to submit to such conditions as might be impused on
them by force, and appealing to the enlightened and im-
partial judgment of civilised nations.

That the Imperial Government would pay the sum de-
manded by Mr. Christie, or by her Britannic Majesty's Go-
vernment, as indemnity for the losses and damages result-
ing from the disaster of the barque Prince f Wales, with-
out recognising the principle of the responsibility attributed
to them, and against which they loudly and categorically
protested.
But as to the question concerning the officers of the
Forte :
That the Government did not admit the want of the due
attentions to the British navy to have been committed, and
however much they deplored the evils that might result
from the determinations taken by her Britannic Majesty's
Government, they preferred and deemed it more honour-
able to endure them than to sacrifice the national dignity
and decorum. _

It was then that, rejecting any other less prejudicial
measure, her Britannic Majesty's minister intimated to the
Imperial Government on the 30th that the reprisals were
going to commence immediately, and the Brazilian property
seized would be retained until the dsmanded satisfaction
should be given.

In the conflict upon which the Imperial Government had
unfortunately to find themselves engaged with her Britannic
Majesty's legation, they always met with the most decided
and most enthusiastic support on the part of all the popu-
lation.
The popular manifestations would have produced very
deplorable consequences for the relations between the two
countries were it not for the good sense of the Brazilians,
and the measures taken at the same time by the Imperial
Government.
To calm the public mind, the MinWer of Agriculture,
Commerce, and Public Works had to declare on the Slat
at the Bourse (Procado Conitivrcio), that tha Imperial