The Sun.
London, England, 1857-05-28 00:00:00

OUR RELATIONS WITH BRAZIL.
-I--
(From the Daily News.)
We have just received Sir Richard Bethell's Bill
for the Punishment of Fraud committed by Trus- Mr. Roebuck proposes this evening to ask the
Bankers of Commons to do a very sensible thing—
tees, Bankers, and other persons intrusted with appoint a Committee to inquire into and report on
property. The bill is, happily, shod and intelli- I our relations with the Empiro of Brazil. He will,
gible, qualities which do not always distinguish this I of course, be told that such a step is unusual and
class of literature. We find in it seven short sec-
an interference with the functions and responsibility
tions, in which the offences to be henceforth •
of the Queen's Government. But the circumstances
s
of the case are al-o unusual, and the policy of the
brought under the cognizance of the Ctiminal Queen's Government is at variance with the inte-
Courts are pointed out and defined. The first ie rests and hazardous to the commerce of the country.
aimed at the class of "trustees ;"—how many If, then, Mr. Roebuck can establish these two
among us in decent positions in life have the good Propositions—as we think he very easily may—no
fortune to be neither trustees nor executors ? Now,
I formal or technical reasons ought to prevent an in-
trustees Quest beino held on a sub which
are, for the moat part, at the mercy of the ' the honour°and the welfare ofject England, affects both
solicitors to the trust funds, unless they be very What are the relations between England and
careful men indee 1, and do not shrink from cans- Brazil ? Nothing can be better than the relations
ing trouble and expense. Some of this class will between British subjects and Brazilian citizens.
upon the slightest provocation throw the affair (No hing in peace can be worse than the relations
,
into Chancery, and thus relieve themselves from between the British and Brazilian Governments.
Between the former there exists a large, valuable,
responsibility at the expense of the estate. With and increasing direct commerce ; and in England
the terror of the Attorney-General's penal clause the balances of trade between Brazil and all other
before their eyes we suspect that this class of nations are settled to our advantage. It is no
over-careful trustees—and executors too—will re-
exaggeration to assert that the pecuniary interest
ceive a large addition. For the future, trustees who which Englishmen have in Brazil is seldom less
"in violation of good faith, and with intent to de- than fifteen millions st, rlino. Brazilian ports are
fraud with English commercial houses and ship-
fraud," appropriate trust money or any part of it to ping ; Brazilian railways are being made with
their own use are to be held guilty of a misdemean- English capital and English skill ; in English
s our, punishable by penal servitude for any term shipyards the rapidly increasing Brazilian navy
not exceeding seven years. The only check upon this is being built ; Rio de Janiero is about to be
Draconic clause, which would otherwise render men lighted with gss by an English Company ; the
as unwilling to meddle with the office of trustee, as g+ eat monumental works of that and other Bra-
with red-bot iron, is a provision in the 12 th section. zilian cities are directed by English intelligence ;
No such prosecution is to be commenced without in short, the trading, industrial, and pecuniary
the sanction of some Judge or of the Attorney-
dealings between the two countries are of the
General, and it is supposed that in this way vexa- largest and best descriptions ; and hitherto we
tious and unjustifiable indictments may be avoided. have maintained our superiority over the United
" Good faith" and " fraudulent intent" are very States and Germany in Brazil.
plastic terms ; so it is to be hoped the security im-
The relations between the two Governments are
plied by the necessity of obtaining this previous deplorably bad, and threaten very seriously to dis-
sanction may avail. It is, no doubt, highly expedi- turb and diminish the good relationship existing
ent to frame some such clause as this for the benefit between the people of the two countries. We have
ofpersons interested in trust funds, for few persons no Treaty of Amity and Friendship between the two
if they be not members of the legal profession, can Crowns ;we have no Treatyof Commerce ;we have
nave the faintest idea of the amount of iniquity an- not between the two Governments a single obliga-
nually perpetrated by trustees. Any lawyer who tion or stipulation of any sort or kind, save and
has seen much business wilt invariably advise his except one—the first article of the Slave Trade
client not upon any con-iderasion to leave his affairs Cenvention of 1826, all the other articles having
in the hands of a sole trustee. Trustees must be been terminated ; and about the construction and
posted, like sene ries in the presence of an enemy, in m, aning of that article the two Governments have
pairs, the one to be sentry or trustee over the other, so completely disagreed, that, while England has
Were it your own brother, were it a man you have used it to in vade the territorial waters and to attack
saved from drowning, were it the clergyman of your the forts of Brazil, the Brazilian Government has
parish, never make him " sole" trustee. At the protested to the world against the violence to
same time, the office is one which must be filled, which it has been subject under what it deems
Were the law made so stringent that private indi- the misconstruction of the true meaning. Nay,
viduals were al togs ther frightened away from the more, the Brazilian Government is resolved that,
office of trustee, the only alternative would be an uut•l the English statute, which was passed in 1845,
indefinite extension of the powers of the Court of to carry out the English view of that article, is re-
Chancery. Trusts must be. A cestui-que trust pealed, it will enter into no compeer, whatever with
would be made a ward of Chancery, as minors are this country. The English Government, on the
now, under certain conditions. Now this would be contrary, adheres with exaggerated and mischievous
a great evil, and therefore the honest trustee must tenacity to ast stute which nothing hut the strongest
be protected in the discharge of his duties, and necessity cituldever justify, and which good faith as
well as policy now requires the repeal of.
even cases of dub ous malversation must not be
We say good faith requires the repeal of 8 and 9
scanned with too severe au eye. We will not say
the security is inadequete. A Judge or the Attor- Vic., cap. 122, and we proceed to prove the asser-
nest-General will surely be slow to allow a prosecu-
tion. In procuring its enactment the Brazilian
time save upon very clear evide ice indeed. It would Government were expressly informed :
be difficult to imagine any case for legislation, "Her Majesty's Goveroinent are far from wish-
wherein the interference of the Legislature is im- ing this mode of adjudicating vessels to be perma-
peratively called for, more surrounded with difli- nen,.
"They will be ready, so soon as any measures of
culties than the one before us. On the one hand
we have rascality and malversation in office, on the the Brazilian Government shall enable theca to do
other the danger that the most honourable men so, to repeal the bill now about to be brought for-
will shrink from the discharge of duties which may ward ; but whilst the present state of th ings continues,
iuvolve them in such terrible consequences. Some- and until either the slave trade of Brazil shall have
thing must be tried, and here is a definite proposi- entirely ceased, or the Brazilian Government
tion. Time only will show whether it will work shell have entered into an arrangement with Great
all the good we desire, and not the evil which we Britain jointly to carry into execution the declared
apprehend. intenti•ms of the parties to the Convention of 1826,
The second, third, and fourth sections re-enact in that course will not be open to them."
more general terms the provisions of the 7th and Here an obligation was voluntarily incurred to
Bth George IV., cap. 29, sec. 49. Under this Act repeal the Act in one of two cases :—either when
it was provided that bankers, merchants, brokers, the slave trade shall have ceased without a new
or other agents intrusted with money, or securities treaty ; or when a new treaty shall have been con-
for the payment of money, with "directions iu eluded before the cessation of the trade. Now, it
writing" as to the application of the same, and who is a fact, beyond all controversy or doubt, that the
should convert them to their own use, should be African slave trade with Brazil has " entirely
held guilty of a misdemeanour. Further, where ceased." The Brazilian Minister has stated, with-
any valuable security or power of attorney for the out contradiction, in a document laid before Par-
sale or transfer of any shares in the public funds, liement, that during the last five years cnly twenty-
dtc., was intrusted to any banker, broker, mar- six Africans have been illicitly introduced into
chant, attorney, or other agent, and such person, Brazil ; and so completely does the information of
in violation of the purpose for which the security or the British Government accord with this statement,
power of attorney was transferred to him, sold, ne- that in July last Lord Palmerston told the House
gotiated, transferred, or pledged the security or the of Commons " the slave trade in Brazil may be
proceeds for his own benefit, he was also guilty of considered to be extinct." One of the cases lon-
a misdemeanour. Such is a general outline of the templated by the British Government as a sufficient
enactment which will be now virtually superseded motive for the repeal of the Act has, therefore,
by the more general terms of Sir Richard Bethell's occurred. But both Lords Palmerston and Claren-
new Bill. The second section provides—" That don refuse to fulfil the obligation Lord Aberdeen
assumed on the part of the British Crown. in 1845.
any banker, merchant, broker, attorney, or agent,
, will perhaps be sug-
other person, and who shall, in violation of being intrusted as such with the property of any These Ministers may, i
Bested, require the additional security of a new
good faith, and with intent to defraud, sell, treaty before repealing the statute. If so, it is
negotiate, transfer, pledge, or in any manner apparent from the slave trade papers laid before
convert or employ to or for his own use such Parliament that, proceeding in the negotiation on
t
property, or any part thereof, shall be guilty of the basis of its repeal, the Brazilian Government
a misdemeanour." It would be difficult to have has always been willing to negotiate such a treaty.
an enactment more sweeping, or one, we believe, But the British Government will not consent to
negotiation as betvve; n two independent States ;
more imperatively called for by the circumstances
i
of the time. The form of crime charged is simply it insists on Brazil signing, without discussion
a theft of the most barefaced kind, with breach of or negotiation, the pre t jec of a tr• sty which it
trust superadded.. It is a crime perpetrated not presents that Government. This was the course
by ignorant men, but by persons of unusual pro- pursued in 1847, when Lord Howden pre-
fessional skill. They have sought the employment seated all ready for signature a treaty which
under which their iniquities are perpetrated—it the Imperial Government, out of a sense of
has not been thrust upon them. In fact, there is its own d gnity, refused , n that account to
not the shadow of an excuse, not the faintest pal- sign. In 1853 the late Brazilian Minister at this
liation, to be urged in their behalf. Iu the third Court presented a prject based on Lord How-
section the same penalty is fulminated against any den's treaty, with some modifications intended
person "who, intrusted with any power of attor- chiefly to protect the coasting trade of the Empire,
ney for the sale or transfer of any property, shall which had sufferel severely and unjustly from the
fraudulently sell, transfer, and convert such pro-
proceedings of our cruisers. Lord Clarendon sum-
perty, or any part thereof, to his own use." The madly rejeete!l it, end replaced it by a counter pro-
general teuour of the remarks which we have offered Jeer' of his own. This leraft Lord Clarendon in-
upon the preceding section will apply to this one formed the Brazilian Minister--we quote his own
e also. By the fourth the security to s ,ciety is ren- laug
uag ultimatum,
Of the on which we
tiered more complete. The, eby " bailees' of any could not consent to any mi.d—" was our ultimatum
property who fraudulently convert it to their own character of this draft the public may judge when
use are equally guilty of a misdemeanour. it miy we state that by its twelfth article it was proposed
be unnecessary to add that this last provision has a to establish a mixed commission in Brazil, to in,
far wider scope than the case of the in re b tnker or quite list the legal status of all slaves imported
broker, and is intended to cure a defect in the crie into the Euip.re subsequently to 1831. To such
minal law, by which the practitioner was constantly a proposition the Brazilian Alinister could only
headed back, and the guilty escaped punishment. reply :
No one who has read the unhappy and disgraceful " Une telle stipulation non seulement serait
chronicles of commercial misconduct during the last contraire aux droits de souverainte du Bresil, mais
few years will hesitate fora moment to asknowledge elle causerait la ruiue de Pt-mpire ; ells le boule-
that without such provisions as these the business verserait completement, et l'exposerait a des con-
of this country could no longer be carried on with vuleious qui pourraient about ir ala disparition du
credit and security. So vast is the extension of our Bresil de la lis e des nations civilisees."
commerce, so great the temptation to unprincipled And so tire negotiations—if negotiation such pre-
men to embark in wild speculations at the expense ceedings can be cello t—ierminated. But surely the
of their clients, so numerous the instances of trium- responsibility of their failure rests on the Govern-
pbant fraud of this description, as to inspire dismas ment, which proposed as an "ultimatum which it
among fair traders and the henest portion of the could not consent to modify," a stipulation so out-
community. When we consider, moreover, how rageous as this.
frequently persons in every way deserving of In truth the policy of Lord Palme'rston towards
commiseration are the dupes of these reckless Brazil is quite inexplicable. In 1850 Brazil enacted
sharpers, there will be nothing wanting to complete Paws making the slave trade piracy ; and in a de-
thes indignation of any man of ordinary probity and patch, dated 10th March, 1851, Lord Palmerston
good faith. Let us think for a moment on the forwarded four printed copies of these laws to the
class of persons who are ruined by Rich a failure Spanish Government, expressing his high ad.mira-
as that of Strahan and Paul. The customers tion of them, and urging the Spanish Geveremeut
of the house were not persons engaged profess to adopt them as models for its legislation. In
sionally in mercantile pursuits, and therefore pie- ,July, 1856, Lord Palmerston admitted the suffici-
sumably upon their guard, but private gentlemen ency of these laws, and the vigour with which they
who had a full right to rely upon the integrity of had been carried out, by telling the House of Com_
their bankers, ladies naturally ignorant of business, mons that the slave trade in Brazil was "extinct."
And yet, to improve our relations with Brazil, he
aye, and the poor governess, who in one moment
of time found herself despoiled of the hard-won will neither propose the repeal of 8 and 9 Viet., c.
earnings of her life. 122, nor enter into serious negotiations with Brazil
The fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth sections of fur a new Slave Trade Treaty.
Sir Richard Bethell's Act are pointed expressly at Surely it is a subject well worthy of the curiosity
the directors or public officers of bodies corporate of the House of Commons "to know the reason
or public companies. The notorious defects of the why."
criminal law with reference to such persons have at
last compelled an enactment which does not appear
o err on the side of over-leniency. Henceforth it
will be a misdemeanour in any such person to take
"fraudulently" for hie own use any of the property
of the tympany. This, we presume, provide s for
the case of
the deposit of slism securities. It will
be a misde
himself
~,Ene.o7atiour in a direc or, dec., to possess
", yof the money belonging to the com-
pany--otherwise thin •
if he
wilfully
omit
too in payment of a just debt—
ameake an entry of the transac-
tion in the books of
demeanour in any such person It will be a mis-
deitroy, alter, or
falsif
mak iy y an of
of the corepa,Peecs°ll3l,to
to be privy to
themaking any fraZulen:l:te ksert;try, or to any
fraudulent omission. it will amisdemeanour
in any director, tic., to circulat-,
or to
ejeoin in cir-
culating, any
false statement as to the
ir
of the company with the intention of deouitndntar eel
member, shareholder, or creditor of the colespgaalln-yy
or with the intention of inducing any pen-mito'
become a shareholder or p-olner in the concern, or
to trust his moeey to the custody of the cone-early,
or to enter ieto any s. unity for the could say's
benefit. S,r Richard Be' hi 11 se, ins to have stuli-d
the paaholegy of I lie Royal Bi it.sti Bank with
sound effect, for the provisions of his Act just ap-
pear
calculated to meet the evils brought to light
when the transactions of that impure concern were
under judicial considerstioe. Such, then, is the
beginning of a tr w era in our rrimito
,I 1o;rs1 ;te n.
Her:c-ItOrward we may !fess, s• as a priiiciele Chet
commercrel tread is 11.,.) loreees ta esc-•pe u wet ri shed.
Year aft r yesr tie net w ili be ri 1 awn tge rtee around
the Eines of cite d mule cial swindlers. We do nol
aft- get •t r tie-pa rof seen our eoreiner iel cede in
such a sate as will Teary terrify tee rogues out of
their maipraertiees, and drive teem ute• 11 honesty, 1
as the more promising zleculaiion,-I'ilnE3.

FRAUDULENT TRUSTEES.

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