The Sun.
London, England, 1863-04-09 00:00:00

perty. The captain made also a protest before the consul.
lie said the mate's protest was not correct, for, instead of
300 or 400 bags of entree, there were 3,000 or 4,t,C0. He
als a declared that the packages that he let fall ovorboard con-
tained diamonds. The consul asked the men if they had
seen the package fall overboard. They replie I they did, but
they did not know that it contained diamon Is ; it was the
first time they heard of diamonds being in the ship. The
cabin-boy had seen the captain making up the paper pack-
age in the cabin, and sealing it with large patches of seal-
ing wax, but saw nothing else. The crew were sent to Lon-
don, where they reported themselves to the Peruvian Consul.
Pending the examinationof the crew on the abandonment
of the ship, the merchants and brokers in London who had
effected Insurances at Lloyd's and other marine insurance
bodies in the City, on the consignment as per the Maria's
bi Is of lading, pressed for a settlement of their respective
claims. On hearing the suspicions attached to the ship.
ments they submitted the whole of the correspondence that
had transpired between them and Messrs. Souza and Reizen-
berger,
the shippers at Bahia. Unfortunately they had ac-
cepted the whole of the drafts which that firm had drawn
on them, amounting nearly to the extent of the insurances
that had been effected, £36,000. With the bills of lading
sent to them and Messrs. Souza and Reizenberger, were
several copies of the Bahia price c'lrrent —a printed paper
evidently forwarded, as it were, to confirm the quantity of
the Maria's cargo, as represented in the bills of lading. But
on those copies of the price current undergoing a strict
scrutinj , it was discovered that a figure of 3 had been
printed, after the paper had been printed, before the 222
bags of coffee, in order to complete the fraud that there were
3,222 on board.
The underwriters, on these discoveries, placed the whole
affair into the hands of Lloyd's Salvage Association, for the
strictest investigation, who at once despatched Captain
Sceales, one of its officers, to Bahia.
The officer, on his arrival there, put himself in communi-
cation with Mr. Morgan, her Britannic Majesty's Consul,
who, it is understood, on account of the peculiar character
of the fraud, the high position of the parties suspected at
Bahia, and the difficulty of moving the Brazilian Govern-
ment in the matter, resorted to the expedient of publishing
the affair in the Bahia newspapers, and on the 20th Feb.
the Journal da Bahia contained the following
:
"THE BRITISH INSURANCE COMPANIES.

"Mr. Editor,—lt has become my duty, in order to safe-
gnarl the interests of British underwriters, to request you
will publish in your esteemed and accredited journal the
documents herewith sent, Nos.: to 16.
"Document No. 1 is a certificate of this Custom-house,
showing the quantity of cargo legally despatched and
shipped for the Peruvian barque Maria, on the 3d Noy.
last, on a voyage from this port to that of London.
"No. 2 is a copy of the manifest of said barque Maria,
delivered by Messrs. Sousa, Reizenberger, and Co., to
Messrs. Hoffmann, Laporte, and Co., agents for the Insur-
ance Company of Hamburg and Bremen.
" By confronting these two manifests any one who knows
the fiscal system of the country and the severity of its re-
gulations will at once perceive the object I have in view in
coming to-day before the public. The Maria was lost off the

Azores under very suspicious circumstances, under declara

tions made and sworn to by her crew on their arrival in
London. In the manifest delivered by Messrs. Souza and
Reizenberger to Messrs Hoffman and Laporte is shown.the
fabulous quantity of 4,722 bags of coffee shipped by them
on board the Maria, and as mysteriously consigned by them
to the following firms, on whom they also valued largely,
namely :—To Messrs. Benoliel and Co., 400 bags; Messrs.
Sieveking and Co., 3,222 bags; Messrs. D. Satow and Co.,
1,100 bags—total, 4,722 bags.
660 n the other hand, the Custom-house manifest proves,
without a doubt, that the quantity of coffee shipped on bow d
the Maria did not exceed 222 bags, and that quantity did
not belong to Souza and Reizenberger. This manifest also
shows that the Maria was a vessel of large carrying capa-
city, and had already on board a legal cargo of 586 tons. In
Sept. last she discharged at this port a cargo of 526 tons of
coals, and on the previous voyage from this port to Ham-
burg she only took 451 tons of cargo. But in the account
and manifest of Souza and Reizenberger the barque Maria
must have loaded 769 tons of native produce, not including
1,100 bags of coffee consigned to Messrs. D. Satow and Co.,
which they dexterously omitted from their manifest, but
which would have increased the cargo of the Maria, loaded
from this port, to 829 tons. Upon the cargo, thus said to
have been embarked in the Maria by Souza and Reizenber-
ger, insurance was effected in the London companies to the
value of £16,100; in Bremen, to a further amount of £3,000
—total insured, £19,100.
" The documents No. 3 to 16 are the correspondence which
took place between Souza and Reizenberger and Messrs. D.
Satow and Co. respecting the 1,000 bags of coffee. These
gentlemen, on the refusal of the British underwriters to pay
the amounts insured, that appeared to be little in confor-
mity to the capacity of the vessel, and the transaction of a
suspicions character, hastened to furnish copies of this cor-
respondence, in order that the underwriters might make the
use they thought proper to protect their rights thus assailed.
"I refrain from saying one word on the shipment of the
diamonds, and will finish this exposition of undeniablefacts
by asking the commercial public of this city to value and
take notice of them as they deserve ; and the Government of
the country to weigh those circumstances as the morality
and rectitude of the case demands.

" JOHN MORGAN, Jun., H.B.M. Consul.

4' British Consulate, Bahia, Feb. 19, 1863."
The next number of the same journal contained an answer
from Messrs. Souza and Reizenberger, declaring that they
were innocent of the allegations, and threatened the consul
with law proceedings for defamation of character; that the
cargo specified was actually on board the Maria, it having
been smuggled on board to avoid the high export duty, 13
per cent.

On the 22d the consul published a rejoinder to their ex-

planations, as follows :

" Mr. Editor,—The protest which Messrs. Souza and Rei-
zenberger publish in your journal of this day, against the
publication of the documents which I presented to pub:ic ap-
preciation, may signify a desire to attenuate the impression
which they necessarily produced in public opinion, but that

protest never can!intend to be a compromise, nor the means
whereby to destroy proved and inexcusable facts. Messrs.
SOUZ A and Reizenberger ought not to consider themselves

taken by surprise by that publication, for they well knew
with antecedency that it was to take place. The British
Consul does not undertake to contend with any one. Bound
by his position, he did his duty. His exclusive aim was to
protect the rights and interests of the British insurance
companies.

" It now remains for the honest commercial body of Bahia
to wait and see how Messrs. S. and R. will nullify the value
of the documents published—documents furnished by the
Custom-house and other departments, and also by their own

correspondence. And truly it is difficult to annihilate the

fact of bills being drawn for value of imaginary coffees, said
to be shipped by the Peruvian barque Maria.
" When Messrs. Souza and Reizenberger shall have ful-
filled their compromise, the public will then be able to judge

whether the British Consul took upon himself the sad and

painful pleasure of wounding the „character of a fellow-
creature, or whether he performed a duty by exposing the
truth. " J. blonG Av, jun., H.B.M. Consul.
" British Consulate, Bahia, Feb. 21, 1863."
On the morning of the 23d it transpired that Mr. Reizen-
berger had absconded. Although under the surveillance of
the Bahia police, he contrived during the night to avoid
their vigilance, and got on board of a United States whaler

then in the bay, which sailed immediately after for New
York.

Previous to Reizenberger absconding the consul had insti-
gated the Customs authorities to prosecute, as the following
correspondence will shew :

" British Consulate, Bahia, Feb. 20, 1863.
"Illustrious and Excellent Sir,—From the enclosed ex-
position, which I considered it my duty to publish in the
Journal of Bahia of this day, your Excellency will perceive
certain facts, not only scandalous in themselves, but also
very suspicious, prejudicial to British underwriters. With
the view of clearing up these matters, I beg on the present
occasion to request your Excellency will be so good as to
give me your opinion thereon, as well as to acquaint me
what is the action the fiscal authorities intend to take in
the matter.

"I avail myself, &c.,
"J. MOBGAN, Jun., H.B.M. Consul.
" Joaquim T. Carneiro do Campos,
Inspector of Customs, Sce."
To this the inspector replied as follows :
" Custom House, Bahia, Feb. 26, 1863.

good enough to address me
"Sir,—It is only now that it was possible for me to reply
to your letter which youm wereanied by
a Journal of Bahia, No.
on the 20th inst., accompanied
t otherp documents published by you
Reizenberger, and Co., in
relating 7 the cargo of the Peruvian barque
Maria, effected by Souza,
that vessel, of the cargo said
London, another manifest o
to where,
th insurance of
to be loaded by the said Souza, Reizenberger, and Co., had
appeared, and had been presented to Hoffman, Laporte, and
co., agents for the Hamburg and Bremen Insurance
Com-
pany, duly authenticated, for the purposes of insurance. I
certainly saw with surprise that this second manifest
showed a larger cargo than that which was embarked and
carried away in that vessel, of which the master
and owner
was M. J. Albers, and consignees Souza and Reizenberger.
I immediately thereon solicited of Hoffmann Laporte en
authenticated copy of that manifest, which being furnished
to me I ordered a calculation to be made, at sight, of the
true manifest, and of the legal despatches of the cargo
existing in this department, all signed and approved by the
aforesaid Captain Albers, of the amount of duties thus
illegally subtracted, due on the cargo said to be embarked
on board that vessel, which amounts to rs. 6,176,960.
Consequently, as this department can only act administra-
tively, as it was not a case in jiagrante, I sent all the docu-
ments to the Public Prosecutor, with all the necessary
information of the facts, as well as the confession of the
parties to thefraud, in order that he (the Public Prosecutor)
might in court prosecute them criminally, giving an account
thereof to the Treasury, being the superior department.
" I can also assure you that in all the hypotheses treated of,
my opinion can never be favourable to those who neglect
the paths of justice and honesty to promote their own nefa-
rious ends.

"The Inspector, J. T. DE CAMPOS.
" To H.B.M. Consul in this City, &c."
While the above proceedings were pending at Bahia,
Captain Albers, who, it appears had been stopping at Lis-