The Sun.
London, England, 1845-07-24 00:00:00

ABERDEEN

Draft of Note to be presented by.lr. Hamilton Hamilton to

the Brazilian Minster.

'The undersigned, rkc., has submitted to the Government of
the Queen his Sovereign the note which the Senhor Ernesto
Ferreira Franca, &e., addressed to him on the 12th of March
last, in which that Minister declared, on the part of the Im-
perial Government of Brazil, that they consider that from the
13th of that month the fifteen years will have been completed,
during which, according to the coventions between Great
Britain and Brazil, in regard to the abolition of the traffic in
slaves, the convention of the 28th July, 1817, was to continue
in fa*. ; and that consequently from that day all the stipula-
tions contained in the above-mentioned convention of the
24th July, 1817, the additional articles, instructions and regu-
lations annexed thereto would cease. Senhor. Franca adds, that
as by an understanding between the high contracting parties
which was entered into at the time, it was agreed that a period
of six months should be allowed to Brazilian vessels employed
in the slave trade, to return unmolested to the ports of the
Empire, provided they had left the coast of Africa before the
13th March, 1830, on which day, according to the convention
of the 23d November, 1826, this traffic was to cease entirely,
the Imperial Government will not hesitate now to agree that
the British and Brazilian Mixed Commissions established at
Rio de Janeiro and at Sierra Leone shall continue to act for
six months longer, namely, until the 13th September next,
for the sole purpose of concluding the adjudication of the
cases pending, and of those which may have occurred before
the 13th day of March in the current year.
The note of Senhor E. F. Francs has received the atten-
tive consideration of her Majesty's Government.
The several provisions of the conventions of the 28th July,
1817, and of the 23d November, 1826, and the correspondence
which has since taken place between the Governments of
Brazil and of Great Britain respecting the execution of those
engagements, have been carefully examined by them, and
the undersigned has been directed to call the recollection of the
Brazilian Government to the following facts. _

On the 26th of August, 1828, the Viscount d'ltabayana,
the Brazilian Envoy at the Court of London, proposed in a
note to the Earl of Aberdeen, then his Majesty's Secretary of
State for Foreign Affairs, that the term which was fixed by
the convention of the 23d of November, 1826, for the final
cessation of the trade should be extended. The
British Government declined at that time to accede to
this suggestion, and in the subsequent year the Brazilian Go-
vernment by a note of the 13th February, 1829, from the Mar-
quis d'Aracaty to Lord Ponsonby, then his Majesty's Envoy at
Rio de Janeiro, declared that in making the above-mentioned
proposal, the Imperial Legation in London had mistaken the
orders conveyed to them, and that the Brazilian Government
limited themselves to a desire that his Majesty's Government
would give them a guarantee that British cruisers should not
capture Brazilian vessels engaged in slave trade adventures,
which had commenced within the term when that trade was still
legal.
Lord Aberdeen, in a note which he addressed to the Che-
valier de Mattos on the 16th of September following, signified
the assent of his Majesty's Government to that request ; and
the Brazilian Government, adopting the expression in which
the assent was conveyed, issued on the 4th of November fol-
lowing a Portaria, declaring that they had received from the
British Minister " the assurance that those Brazilian vessels
employed in the traffic in slaves, which could prove that they
had finally left the coast of Africa on or before the 13th March,
1830, should prosecute and finish their bond fide voyages
direct from Africa to any port in Brazil without incurring
the liability of being treated as pirates according to the con-
vention." _ _

Such, therefore, was the. understanding between the two
high contracting parties as to the circumstances under which
Brazilian subjects and vessels should be exempt from penalty,
although found to be engaged in the slave trade subsequently
to the 13th March, 1830;, and Senhor Franca will perceive
that there was not, as supposed by him' :any mentian of a speci-
fic term of six months, during which such liberty should be
continued to Brazilian vessels..

Itiurther appears, upon an examination of the correspon-
dence between the two Governments,, that on the 4th of Oc-
tober, 1830, the Chevalier Mattos declared to her Majesty's
Secretary of State, that the slave trade being totally forbidden
to Brazilian subjects from the 13th March, 1830, and those
who should thereafter engage in it being liable to punishment
under the convention of 1826, by the 4,rdinary tribunals of the
contracting parties, he was directed by the Imperial Govern-
ment to concert with his Majesty's Government the dissolution
of the Mixed Commissions established at Sierra Leone and Rio
de Janeiro, as having become entirely superfluous : the func-
tions of the latter to cease in December, 1830, and those of the
former in June, 1831.
The Chevalier de Mattos was answered on the 10th De-
cember, 1830, that the dissolution of the Mixed Commission
Courts at the periods suggested wouldlp productive of much
inconvenience, because some time must elapse before tribunals
could be finally constituted for exercising criminal jurisdiction
in eases of piracy under the provisions of the convention.
On the 30th March, 1831, the Chevalier Mattos replied that
the Mixed Commissions were instituted with the view of judg-
ing of the legality of the detention of vessels employed in slave

trade, but that at the present period it is impossible any longer '
to dispute the legality of such a detention, as all traffic in slaves
is illegal.
On these grounds M. de Mattos suggested that" the neces-
sary remedies must be had recourse to," but that the illegal
protection of the mixed tribunds ought not to be sanctioned.
In answer to this, Viscount Palmerston, at that time Secre-
tary of State, stated to M. de Mattes that his Majesty's Go-
vernment could come to no other decision than that under the
separate article of the 11th September, 1817, the Mixed Com-
missions might continue to exercise their functions until fifteen
years after the 13th March, 1830, or until the two Govern-
ments should have agreed upon and completed the alterations
contemplated by that article for adapting the stipulations of
the convention of 1817 to the status of the total abolition of the
slave trade. Lord Palmerston at the same time expressed the
readiness of her Majesty's Government to enter into negotia-
tions for such alterations.

Negotiations followed, and on the part of her Majesty's
Government. with an earnest desire to arrive at a satisfactory
conclusion, and one that should accord with the honour and
interests of both parties, and secure the accomplishment of their
common object.
Repeated representations were made to the Brazilian Go-
vernment on the continuance of the slave trade of that country,
and the necessity of more active and powerful measures for
suppressing it; and in the year 1835, articles additional to the
convention were actually signed by plenipotentiaries on the
part of the contracting parties. Unfortunately, these articles
were never ratified by the Crowa of Brazil.
Again, on the 23d August, 1840, new propositions were
made on the part of Great Britain, framed on memoranda
drawn up by the Brazilian Government ; but when proposed
by Great Britain, the Brazilian Government declined to accept
them.

On the 26th August, 1841, the Brazilian Government on
their part proposed certain terms ; and in April, 1842, the un-
dersigned submitted to the Imperial Government proposals
for modifying those terms so as to carry out effectually the
intentions of the parties to the convention of 1826. But
on the 17th October in that year the Brazilian Government
thought proper not only entirely to reject those modifications,
but to declare by a note under that date from Senhor Aure-
liano to the undersigned, that " the Imperial Government not
only consider that other dispositions besides those which already
exist are now unnecessary, in order to the total extinction of
the traffic% but they regard it as prudent not to adopt any
others."
Accordingly Senhor Aureliano returned to the undersigned
the draft of convention, refusing peremptorily even to enter

into, negotiation on it. This occurred at a time in respect to
which the British Commissioners had observed to her Majesty's
Government that " at no period has the Brazilian slave trade
been so extensively carried on as it is at the present moment in
Rio de Janeiro itself."
The Government of Brazil having thus, notwithstanding the

necessity shown for the adoption of new and more decisiveinea-
sures of suppression, openly rejected all overtures for render-
ing the compact of 1817 thoroughly and permanently effectual,
her Majesty's Government commanded the undersigned to
make the declaration contained in his note of the Ist Septem-
ber,lB43, that if the Brazilian Government still decline to
enter with Great Britain into formal engagements calculated to
give full effect to the declared intentions of the parties to the
convention of 1826, for the total and final abolition of the
slave trade of Brazil, it will remain fir her Majesty •to take
alone and by her own means the steps whi:th she may feel
called upon to adopt for carrying into full and complete effect
the humane object of the obligation imposed upon her Majesty
by the Ist article of that convention. It is true that by a
subsequent instruction from her Majesty's Government the
undersigned was empowered to take advantage of any disposi-
tion which the Brazilian Government might evince even at

that late hour for entering into the formal arrangements re-
ferred to ; but the undersigned regrets to say that he failed to
perceive any indication of a disposition which would enable him
to act upon that instruction with effect.
The next communication of importance that passed between
the two Governments upon the subject of their relations re-
garding the slave trade is the note of Senhor Franca of the 12th
March last, which her Majesty's Government have recently had
under their consideration, and in which the Government of
Brazil require that the convention of 1817 shall be considered
as ceasing from the 13th of March last ; proposing at the same
time that the Mixed Commissions shall continue their functions
to the 13th of September, for disposing of the cases pending,
and of those which may have occurred before the 13th March
last.
Senhor Franga contends that Brasil having abolished the slave
trade from the 13th of March, 1830, the fifteen years referred
to in the separate article to the convention of 1817 have now
expired, and that, consequently, all the stipulations of that con-
vention to which the additional article refers are at an end.
It does not appear, however, that there is any decree or law
of Brazil abolishing the slave trade generally from the 13th
March, 1.30. The first law on the subject, so far as her
Majesty's Government are informed, is on the 17th November,
1831, and the next in April, 1832, in neither of which is any
reference made to the 13th March, 1830.
The Brazilian Government, therefore, must rest entirely on
the Ist article of the convention of 1826, ratified on the 13th
March, 1827, and contend that inasmuch as between them and
the British Government the slave trade by their subjects has
been piracy since the 13th March, 1830, the stipulations of 1817
are no longer applicable thereto.
The undersigned has been commanded to state to the Impe-
rial Government of Brazil, that upon a full consideration of
the case, her Majesty's Government are disposed to think that
the view thus taken of it by the Senor Franga is correct as
between the two countries; and they therefore feel themselves
b ,und to admit to the Brazilian Government that the conven-
tion of 1817, with all its annexes, are and must be considered
as at an end from the 13th March, 1845.
This being the case, the undersigned is directed to observe
that her Majesty's Governmeot have no longer any course open
to them under the convention of the '23d November, 1826,
than that of giving full effect to the stipulations of the Ist article
of that convention, under which her Majesty has acquired the
right to order the seizure of all 'Brazilian subjects found upon
the high seas engaged in the slave trade, of punishing them as
pirates, and of disposing of the vessels in which they may be
captured, together with the goods belonging to them as" bona
piratorum.
Her Majesty's Government had hoped, to the very latest mo-
ment, that the Brazilian Government would, by a renewal and
extension of the engagements between the two countries, have
offered to Great Britain some other means of giving effect by
joint operations to the convention of 1826.
Unfortunately, this has not been the case; and the vigour
and success with which the slave trade is now carried on under
the Brazilian flag, leaves the British Government no choice
but to appeal to the rights and obligetions which attach to her
Majesty under the Ist article of the above- mentioned convention.
The undersigned is accordingly directed to declare that her
Majesty's Government are prepared to exercise those rights,
and that it is their intention immediately to propose to Parlia-
ment to pass the legislative enactments necessary for enabling
her Majesty to carry the provisions of that article into complete
execution.
With respect to the proposal of Senhor Franca for the con-
tinuance of the functions of the Mixed Commissions, although
the example by which he supports his proposal has been shown
in the early part of this note to be inaccurate, her Majesty's
Government are willing that the British and Brazilian Mixed
Commissions established at Rio de Janeiro and at Sierra Leone,
Shall sit until the 13th September next, for the sole purpose of
concluding the adjudication of the cases pending, and of those
which may perchance have occurred before the 13th day of
March last.
Her Majesty's Commissioners will accordingly receive an in-
struction to that effect ; and the commanders of her Majesty's
cruise: s will receive instructions as to the termination of the
convention of 1817, and the cessation of their right to capture
under the same. The undersigned, &c.

I.:closure 2, in No. 2.

The Earl of Aberdeen to her Majesty's Commissioners at Rio

de Janeiro.

Foreign-office, June 4, 1845

Gentlemen,—l herewith transmit to you a translation of a
note which was addressed on the 12th of March last to her Ma-
jesty's Envoy at Rio de Janeiro by the Senhor E. F. Franca,
declaring on the part of the Brazilian Gosernment that they
consider that the convention of 1817 between Great Britain and
Portugal, as adopted by Brazil with all its annexes, would
cease on the 13th of March last, and proposing that the Mixed
Commissions at Rio de Janeiro and Sierra Leone should sit
to the 13th of September next, for the sole purpose of ad-
judging the cases which may have occurred previously to the
above-mentioned 13th of March.

I have now to acquaint you, for your information and
guidance, that her Majesty's Government admit the view taken
by the Brazilian Government of the termination of the eon-
vention of the 18th July, 1817, on the 13th of March last, and
agree to the proposal that the Mixed Commissions at Rio de
Janeiro and Sierra Leone shall sit until the 13th of September
next, for the purposes described by M. Franca in his note.
You will therefore be guided in your conduct by this intimation.
—I ant, &c. (Signed) ABERDEEN.
Her Britannic Majesty's Commissioners in the
Mixed British and Brazilian Commission,
Rio de Janeiro.

No. 3.
The Earl of Aberdeen to Mr. Hamilton.

Foreign-office, July 2, 1845.
Sir,—lt is with regret that her Majesty's Government have
found themselves compelled to appeal to the rights and obliga-
tions attaching to her Majesty under the Ist article of the con-
vention of 1826, between Great Britain and Brazil upon slave
trade ' • but the notification made to you on the 12th March
last, by the Senhor E. F. Franca on the part of the Brazilian
Government, that they considered that the convention of July
1817, as adopted by Brasil, must cease on the 13th of that
month, and the apparent absence of all intention to join in any
definite and practical measures for the performance of the en-
gagement by which they continue bound, has left to her Ma-
jesty's Government no other course than to provide for them-
selves the means of carrying those rights into effective execution.
For it is unhappily notorious, that vessels intended for slave
trade are fitted out almost daily in the ports of Brazil ; that of
the slave ships met with in the African seas, three-fourths are
under the Imperial flag, or are prosecuting the trade on account
of Brazilian subjects ; that along the southern coast of the em-
pire there is scarcely a creek where a landing is practicable,
which has not become known as a resort and refuge to slave
dealers ; that the importation of human beings as slaves into
Brasil, far from being discountenanced as a violation of law and
treaty, is favoured by the local authorities, and that even in the
Legislative Assemblies the trade is avowed as one in respect to
which it is not necessary or even becoming that the Govern-
ment should keep the faith of their treaties with Great Britain.
When, therefore, that Government declared its determina-
tion to relinquish the means hitherto adopted in concert be-
tween the high contracting parties for fulfilling the convention
of 1826, her Majesty's Government found themselves called
upon to choose between leaving the slave trade to flourish and
increase, in spite of the obligations imposed and the rights con-
ferred upon them by that convention, or recurring to such
other means as are open to Great Britain, for carrying its
avowed object into effect.
Her Majesty's Government have felt it their duty to choose
the latter course ; and accordingly they have prepared and are
about to submit to Parliament, a Bill giving to her Ma-
jesty's Courts of Admiralty the power to take cognizance of,
and to adjudicate upon, all vessels captured for carrying on the
slave trade contrary to the convention of 1826, a power from
which those Courts have hitherto been specially debarred by
the Act of Parliament originally passed for carrying that con-
vention into execution, in consideration that provisions were
therein adopted for the maintenance of those mixed tribunals
which the Brazilian Government has now determined to
dissolve.
Her Majesty's Government, however, are far from wishing
this mode of adjudicating those vessels to be permanent.
They will be ready, so soon as any measures of the Brazilian
Government shall enable them to do so, to recommend to Par-
liament to repeal the Bill now about to be brought forward ;
but whilst the present state of things continues, and until either
the slave trade of Brazil shall have entirely ceased, or the
Brazilian Government shall have entered into an engagement
with Great Britain jointly to carry into execution the declared
intentions of the parties to the convention of 1826, that course
will not be open to them.
You are already aware that the measure by which, in the
opinion of her Majesty's Government, the Government of
Brazil would best evince their determination to carry out the
intention which they have so solemnly recorded, would be the
negotiation of a treaty, similar either to that concluded between
Great Britain and Spain in 1835, or to that between Great
Britain and Portugal of 1842.
Should the Brazilian Government show. any willingness to
entertain the question of such a treaty, you will frankly declare
that nothing would give her Majesty's Government more sin.