(Enclosure 2.)—The Portuguese Chargé d'Affaires to Mr. ConsulGeneral Chamberlain.-(Translation.) MOST ILLUSTRIOUS SIR, Portuguese Legation, in Rio de Janeiro, By your Letter, dated the 12th instant, you were pleased to state: First, The arrival of the Ship Orfeo under the Portuguese Flag, with a Cargo of Slaves from Ambriz. Second,-Your desire that I would co-operate in putting an end to the illicit employment of Portuguese Vessels in furnishing Brazil (now a State independent of Portugal) with Slaves; founding your request on Art. 1, Sec. 4, of the Additional Convention of London. Thirdly,-Your desire to know if the Orfeo came provided with the competent Passport, according to the 4th Article of the said Convention; which you doubt; confiding in the good faith of the Portuguese Government; and, Fourthly,-If this Ship be not competently provided with such Passport, your hope that I will take such measures as may teach these illicit Adventurers in a Traffick that is prohibited, what they are to expect when they dare to act contrary to the Engagements of their Sovereign. Commencing my Answer upon your last Proposition, I have the honour to state, that you may be certain I shall always take, at any epoch, and also as far as in my power, all possible measures to cause entire obedience to, and observance of, the Orders and Engagements of my August Master. To your third request, you will permit me to assure you, that, on inspecting the Papers (to-day, in this Legation,) of the said Ship Orfeo, of which Luis Antonio de Guimaraes is Master, it is proved that this Vessel is of Portuguese construction, Portuguese Owners, navigated by a Portuguese Master and Crew; with a Passport, according to Art. 4, of the said Convention of the 28th July, 1817, passed by the Minister of Marine in Lisbon, to proceed to the Coast of Africa, and load Slaves for Brazil, in conformity with Article 2, Sec. 2, of the said Convention; and for Portuguese account, according to the tenour of Article 4 of the Treaty signed at Vienna on the 22d January, 1815; and before the Ratification by His Most Faithful Majesty of the Treaty of Independence of the 29th of August, 1825, a time at which the present Empire of Brazil was a Trans-Atlantick Possession belonging to the Crown of Portugal: in consequence whereof, this Vessel has made a legal Traffick in Slaves, and in the manner you mention in the first part of your Letter. This legal Traffick renders inadmissible its second part in this particular Case. I have, &c. Having in every thing replied to your Letter, Henry Chamberlain, Esq. (Enclosure 3.)—Mr. Consul-General Chamberlain to the Portuguese Chargé d'Affaires. M. LE COMMANDEUR, Rio de Janeiro, September 20, 1826. I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of the Letter you had the goodness to address to me on the 14th instant, in answer to mine of the 12th, respecting the Portuguese Ship Orfeo, which has arrived in this Port with a Cargo of Slaves from Ambriz; and wherein you assure me, that this Vessel is of Portuguese construction, is Portuguese owned, is navigated by a Portuguese Master and Crew, and has a Passport conformable to the 4th Article of the Additional Convention of London of the 28th of July, 1817, passed by the Minister of Marine in Lisbon, authorizing her to go to the Coast of Africa to lade Slaves for Brazil, in conformity with the 2d Section of the 2d Article of the said Convention; and for Portuguese account, according to the tenour of the 4th Article of the Treaty of Vienna of the 22d January, 1815; and before the Ratification by His Most Faithful Majesty of the Treaty of Independence of the 29th August, 1825, a time when the now Empire of Brazil was a Trans-Atlantick Possession of the Crown of Portugal. The Ship, Owners, Master, and Crew, Passport and Property, being thus all unquestionably Portuguese, the period when her Documents are dated, and the date of her departure from Lisbon, are the important facts by which it can be ascertained whether her voyage is legal or illegal; and if you see no objection to accede to my request in this respect, I should feel obliged by your taking the trouble to afford me information on that point. My object, M. le Commandeur, in soliciting this favour, is to make such use of the particulars, should you think fit to furnish them, as my duty may require, and to report the facts of the Case, correctly, to my Government. The separation of Brazil from Portugal, and its acknowledgment as an Independent Empire, and the acknowledgment of His Imperial Majesty Don Pedro as Emperor, after which Brazil ceased to be a Trans-Atlantick Possession of the Crown of Portugal, were all contained in the Royal Diploma of His late Most Faithful Majesty Don John VI., dated the 13th May, 1825, and recognized in the Preamble of the Treaty of the 29th August of the same Year, after which date the Government of Portugal had no right to supply Brazil with Slaves. And unless the Documents, under which the Orfeo left the Tagus in the prosecution of this Slave-trading-voyage, were issued previously to that Royal Diploma, it would seem to follow that she has been improperly authorized to engage in the Traffick, contrary to that stipulation of Treaty which declares, that the Portuguese Flag shall not be employed to supply Foreign Territories with Slaves, and that her Voyage, therefore, is illegal. I have, &c. M. Carlos Mathias Pereira. H. CHAMBERLAIN. (Enclosure 4.)-The Portuguese Chargé d'Affaires to Mr. Consul. Gen. Chamberlain.-(Translation.) MOST ILLUSTRIOUS SIR, Portuguese Legation; THERE are three points which form the object of the Letter you addressed to me the day before yesterday. First, To mention, if I had no objection so to do, the date of the Documents of the Ship Orfeo, and the date of her departure from Lisbon. Secondly, The declaration of your opinion that the Government of Portugal had not the right to supply Brazil with Slaves after the 13th day of May, 1825, on which you say, by a Royal Diploma of His Most Faithful Majesty The Lord Don John the Sixth, whom God has in Glory, Brazil ceased to be a Trans-Atlantick Possession of Portugal; the separation of Brazil from Portugal, her recognition as an Independent Empire, and the recognition of His Imperial Majesty the Lord Don Pedro as Emperor, having been by that Act acknowledged. Thirdly, That, if the Documents with which the Orfeo left the Tagus were not of an anterior date to that Royal Diploma, it appears to follow, that she was unduly authorized to engage in a Traffick contrary to that Stipulation of the Treaty which declares "that the Portuguese Flag shall not be employed in supplying Foreign Countries with Slaves," and that, therefore, her Voyage is illegal. To the first Point, I have the honour to reply, that the Passports bear date the 14th November, 1825; and, although the Document from the Board of Trade bears date the 25th of the said month, the same Secretary of State declares, that the motive was because that Document had been renewed. I am ignorant, however, of the day of the departure of the Orfeo. In regard to the second Point, in which it is asserted that the Government of Portugal had no right to supply Brazil with Slaves after the 13th May, 1825, because you say there was on that date a Royal Diploma for the Emancipation of Brazil: knowing that the Treaty of Independence was only made on the 29th of August, and ratified on the 15th of November of the said Year, it is not without admiration that I see you, by this assertion, attempt to establish a principle contrary to the opinion and judgment of the Writers on the Law of Nations, which, in policy and diplomacy, serve as a rule; and allow me to have a very different opinion from your's; because, according to Vattel Martens, Herold, of Real, and Meiern, I understand that Treaties are only considered in force after their Ratification; having, at the same time, to put you in mind, besides what is expounded as a general rule, that in Portugal they are only, according to Law, considered so, and are only binding when competently published. There are very recent motives to persuade me, that in Great Britain the same would happen. The Recognition of the Independence of Brazil was only known in Portugal from the Letter of Law of the 15th of November, 1825, in which The Lord Don John the Sixth, ratifying the Treaty of the 29th of August, made publick the Treaty and the said Recognition in consequence of the "Carta Patente" of the 13th of May. The said “Carta Patente” of the 13th May had not, therefore, up to that time, been published in Portugal; nor could the Government of Portugal have published it without knowing the use made of it by Sir Charles Stuart, according to his Instructions; as its publication and execution depended upon the adjustments he might make with the Court of Rio de Janeiro, adjustments that are manifested in the said Treaty, which depended upon the Ratification, as all do, generally speaking, according to the Law of Nations, and as is seen in Article 11 of the same. I have therefore the honour to reply, that, as regards the Government of Portugal, and the Portuguese, the whole affair of Separation and Recognition of the Independence of Brazil was entirely dependent on the Ratification and publication of the same Treaty, and, therefore, the Petition was legal, the concession of a Passport was legal, and the Cargo was made in good faith, and legally. Having replied to the second Point of your Letter, which embraces the third, it only remains to me to profit, &c. Henry Chamberlain, Esq. CARLOS MATHIAS PEREIRA. No. 53. Mr. Consul-Gen. Chamberlain to Mr. Secretary Canning. (Received December 15.) (Extract.) Rio de Janeiro, September 28, 1826. I HAVE to report the arrival in this Port, on the 11th instant, of a large Vessel, called the Orfeo, under Portuguese Colours from Lisbon, with a Cargo of 708 Slaves on board, shipped at Ambriz; 11 having died during the Voyage. I wrote to M. de Inhambupe the next day, stating these facts, and the reasons which led me to conclude that the Orfco must be an illicit Trader, and requesting that the necessary enquiries might be gone into, and measures taken to enforce the Law, if it should appear that she really was so. I was aware that it did not belong to the Government of Brazil to punish Portuguese illicit Slave-traders, wherefore I particularly applied for the enforcement of the Law; meaning thereby the 2d Article of the Alvará of the 26th January, 1818, as I had read it in the Translation contained in Class A. of the Papers presented to Parliament in 1821; which Alvará, as it struck me, ought to be considered as the stipulated complement of the Additional Convention of London of 1817; and, therefore, an Act of Legislation, of which Great Britain has the right to claim the execution. On the 14th the Minister acknowledged the receipt of my Letter, and on the 25th replied to it, informing me, that the Orfeo had sailed from Portugal, to be employed in the Slave-trade, duly provided with a Passport from that Government, dated the 14th November, 1825, when the said Government had not yet acknowledged the Independence of this Empire; and that, under any circumstances, there is no Stipulation between Great Britain and Brazil, whereby the latter is bound not to receive Slaves imported in Portuguese Ships. The Right Hon. George Canning. H. CHAMBERLAIN. (Enclosure 1.)-Mr.Consul-Gen. Chamberlain to the Viset. de Inhambupe. M. LE VICOMTE, Rio de Janeiro, September 12, 1826. A Portuguese Ship arrived in this Harbour yesterday, bringing a Cargo of Slaves; and the Diarios of this day state, that she is called the Orfeo, from Ambriz, with 708 Negroes on board, 11 having died during the passage, and that she is consigned to the Merchant João Alves da Silva Porto. I lose not a moment in bringing these circumstances before your Excellency, in the hope that the necessary enquiries will be immediately made, and measures taken to enforce the Law against the Parties concerned, if, as it is apprehended must be the case, the Orfeo has infringed the existing Treaty and Convention for the repression of the Slave-trade. By the establishment and recognition of the Independence of Brazil, Portugal and Brazil are become, to all intents and purposes, quoad each other, Foreign States, and Portugal is bound by existing Engagements with Great Britain (sce Additional Convention of London of 1817, Art. 1, Sec. 4,) uot to allow Portuguese Vessels to carry Slaves to any Port not in the Dominions of His Most Faithful Majesty, which makes it most improbable that the Orfco can be provided with a Passport from the Governmeut of Portugal to load Slaves for Rio de Janeiro. That she can be provided with a Passport from His Imperial Brazilian Majesty's Government, to carry on the Trade between the African Possessions of Portugal and Rio, is presumed to be still less likely; and we all know that no Governor of any of the Portuguese African Colonies has the power to grant any such Passport. Wherefore it appears reasonable to conclude, that the Orfeo has illegally engaged in this Traffick. And I take the liberty to request the favour of your Excellency to order the result of the before-mentioned enquiries to be communicated to me, and that I may be permitted to see the original Documents |