Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1845-05-01


LER to Congress, founded on communica
lions received here in February from tn,
Minister of the United States at Rio Jane
iro, touching the prosecution of the Slav'
Trade by citizens of the United State a
well as British subjects, notwithstanding!
the penal laws and the existing treatie
between the two countries for its proven
ton and abolition,
This remnant ofthe Slave Trade, it i
understood, our Minister (Hon. Henr,
A. Wise) had, under Il sense Of duty a
the Representative of his country, ant
with something of that vchemence which
seems to be inseparable from his public
character-singuIarly the rcvers OF the
tenor of his private life-set himselrabou
extirpating, by process more summary
than was entirely acceptable to the Gov,
eminent to which he was accredited, and
if the current reports are well-ionnded'
by means rather more energetic than the
usual course of diplomacy.
OF what has actually passed between
our Minister and the Brazilian authori-
Ties we have no doubt that our Government
is well informed, by communications from
Mr. Wise, ifnot also by remonstrances
from the Government, of Brazil, and that
the country will in time be informed, upon
proper authority, what is the true state of
the case.
AT present however, our information
on the subject, through the medium OF
extracts from mercantile letters which
find their way into the newspapers, is
very ndistinct. We can only infer GER
tainly from these accounts that a really
serious difficulty has arisen between our
Minister ard the Government ana Brazil,
for the history and consequences of which
it is proper that our readers should hold
themselves prepared.
The following letter written apparently
by young officer on board of one of our
vessels of war though far from satlstac-
tory affords the clearest glimpse we have
vet had of the Occurrences in the harbor
of Rio Janeiru early in February, being
some five or six weeks later and than the
date of Mr. Wiso's dispatches transmitted
to Congress by the late President:
a letter pnJHshsd in the Cleveland Plain
de0ler.
Rio DE JANERIo, February 8, 1874.
The Brazilian Government have insult
ed our Minister here, and also the Con-
sui, and in fact the American officers and
the nag daily he Minister has written
on to Washington about it to know how he
shall act;wlhethcr he shall dcclair war or
not, and to send him out larger fleet
The Brazilians are fitting out all their
ships of war, and sreparlng their forts, So
that every thing looks ike war here
They are mprcssng men every day on
board their vessels of war; and come out
boldly and say to our commander and Of
fees they are ready to go to war and
give the id Yankees licking. The
English andFrench here arc laughing in
their sleeves at it. We took an Ameri-
can slave brig, called the PorPoise of
Brunswick. a fortnight ago, with the
slaves on board, and $4,000 in gold and
silver, with $4,000 worth of gold dust.
We kept her for a week, under charge of
the frig lte. but the authorities here de-
manded her, and in fact made the Minis
ter and Commodore give her up, or they
would have sunk us. They had all their
ships around us, and their forts double
manned and their guns double-shottcd. to
blow us out of water if we attempted to
resist; so that we must have war, or re-
call our navy and pocket the insult.