Narrative of Services in the Liberation of Chili, Peru and Brazil Volume II Part 16

"If your Excellency should unhappily quit the province, whilst matters are in this state, it will be totally desolated--its commerce annihilated--and its agriculture abandoned; confiscation and terror will be everywhere established, accompanied by rebellion towards the Emperor. If you will remain, we, the undersigned, undertake to support the squadron, in the absence of funds from the Imperial treasury.

"To terminate these evils, we beg to represent to your Excellency that there is only one remedy. President Bruce must be deposed and sent to Rio de Janeiro, with his coadjutors, who are well known, in order that his acts may be lawfully investigated, and punished as justice demands; and that, in the interim, there should be elected by your Excellency, from amongst the more respectable inhabitants of this province, a person to represent to His Imperial Majesty the horrible state of things here existing, and to implore His Imperial Majesty's interposition for its salvation--your Excellency, in the meantime, a.s.suming the civil and military government of the province, until His Imperial Majesty's pleasure can become known. And we further beg of your Excellency that you will name able magistrates, of known probity, to the respective districts, and cause oaths to be taken, in order that the respective Camaras may proceed to the work of saving the province from tumult and anarchy, by observing faithful obedience to His Imperial Majesty and by the administration of laws for the government of the people.

"Maranha, Dec. 11, 1824."

Signed by one hundred and fifty-two of the princ.i.p.al inhabitants of the province.

A similar doc.u.ment, signed by upwards of a hundred and fifty of the respectable inhabitants of Alcantara--upon whom excesses had been committed in no way less reprehensible than at Maranham--had been forwarded to me on the 6th of December; but, as the complaints were of the same nature, it is unnecessary to do more than advert to the circ.u.mstance. In addition to these, I received a statistic list of the murders and robberies perpetrated throughout the province, under the agency of those placed in authority by the President. The whole of these doc.u.ments were retained by me as a justification of any contingency that might arise, and are still in my possession.

The Maranham memorial reached me on the 14th of December, and had scarcely been placed in my hands, when a letter arrived from President Bruce, deprecating its reception, thus shewing that he had previously been made aware of the contents, and--as I had afterwards reason to believe--had attempted to intercept the memorial, but had failed in so doing. After glancing at the contents, I made him the following reply:--

SIR,

I have this moment been honoured with the receipt of your Excellency's letter, and have to state that the doc.u.ment to which you allude had not been delivered to me five minutes previous to your Excellency's communication, and that I have not yet had time to read it.

Your Excellency may, however, rest a.s.sured that if the said paper contains any thing injurious to the interests or dignity of his Imperial Majesty, I shall not fail to take such steps as the occasion may require. All papers that have been presented to me, it is my intention to transmit to Rio de Janeiro, where the Imperial government will judge of the motives of the writers, and of the contents of their communications.

(Signed) COCHRANE AND MARANHA.

Dec. 14, 1824.

My reply to the memorialists was as follows:--

Maranham, Dec. 18,1834.

GENTLEMEN,

I have read your memorial with attention, and regret that you should have occasion to detail complaints of so painful a nature, the more so as I do not know whether I am authorised to remedy the evils otherwise than by such measures as have been already adopted.

According to the Const.i.tution, you ought to find a remedy in the laws; but if any authority, commissioned by His Imperial Majesty, has improperly placed obstacles in the way of law, to His Majesty only can an appeal against such conduct be made, for they who attempt to redress evils arising from a breach of the Const.i.tution, by violating that very Const.i.tution place themselves in an equally disadvantageous position with the object of their accusation.

As regards the deposition of the President, which you request, I frankly confess to you, Gentlemen, that whatever may be my private opinion as to the course most advantageous to you and the province in general--and even to the President himself--I should feel extremely reluctant, except in a case of manifest and extreme necessity, to take upon myself a responsibility which might possibly subject me to the displeasure of His Imperial Majesty, and would most certainly expose me to be continually hara.s.sed by prejudicial reports and false accusations, supported by artful intrigues, against which neither prudence nor rect.i.tude could effectually avail.

To mention an instance of this, within your own knowledge, you all know that, last year, when this province was annexed to the empire, the property of Brazilians under the flag of Portugal, and of all resident Portuguese, was by me respected and unmolested. You know, too, that all the public property of the Portuguese Government in the a.r.s.enals and magazines was left untouched, and it is equally true that upwards of sixty contos of reis (60,000 dollars) in specie, and one hundred and forty contos (140,000 dollars) in bills taken in the Portuguese treasury and custom house, were left by me in the hands of the Government of Maranham, for the payment of the army. Yet, notwithstanding these notorious facts, it has been audaciously declared by the Portuguese authorities composing the prize tribunal at Rio de Janeiro, that that very army--which I had thus left the means to pay--_had served disinterestedly at their own expense, and that I was a mercenary and a robber!_ I may add, too, that the Junta of Maranham contributed in no small degree to this calumny, for, after they had secured the money, they refused to give me a receipt, though the sum I had so lent for the use of the army was, and still is, the indisputable property of the officers and men of the s.h.i.+ps of war who were instrumental in freeing this province from a colonial yoke.

In short, great as is my desire to render you every service in my power, I am not willing to interfere in matters over which I have no express authority--because I do not like to risk the displeasure of His Imperial Majesty, attended, as it might be, not only with sudden dismissal from my official situation, but even with heavy fines and imprisonment; not to mention the sacrifice of all those pecuniary interests which I possess at Rio de Janeiro, where I have enemies _eagerly watching for a pretence to deprive me of all to which I have a claim_. Neither am I disposed to afford to those persons any opportunity of giving plausibility to those calumnies which they are ever so ready to utter, nor to be under the necessity of placing myself on my defence before the world against their false accusations.

I have the honour, GENTLEMEN, &c. &c.

(Signed) COCHRANE AND MARANHA.

The memorial of the inhabitants of Maranham was, together with other complaints, forwarded by me to the Imperial Government, accompanied by the following letter to the Minister of Marine:--

December 16th, 1824.

MOST EXCELLENT SIR,

My letters 278-279, will have acquainted your Excellency of our proceedings here up to their respective dates, and will also have afforded the Imperial Government such information as I could collect regarding the origin and progress of the disputes which have so unhappily prevailed.

It was my hope that--by taking their implements of war from the hands of the contending parties, and removing the most disorderly portion of the military--the public mind would have subsided into tranquillity. It appears, however, that--from the constant alarm occasioned by the "_Pedestres_," and other irregular troops lately maintained by the President--the public still continue in dread of being exposed to outrages, similar to those lately committed on their persons and property. The terror excited is universal, and as the people must be well acquainted with the character and conduct of persons with whom they have been bred up, I cannot bring myself to believe--however desirous to support a President nominated by His Imperial Majesty--that all the respectable portion of the population, without exception, entertain fears that are groundless. Indeed, from all that I have seen or heard, there is but little reason to hope that his Excellency the President has any intention to govern this province on any other system than that of the Captains-General, under the old Portuguese government; that is to say, rather according to his own will than in conformity with the dictates of justice or equity.

Certain it is, that, up to the present moment, the Const.i.tution has never been put in practice, and even military law has not been adhered to. Numerous persons have been banished without accuser or declared crime--others have been thrown into gaol--and the greater portion of the princ.i.p.al people who remained had--previous to our arrival--fled to the woods, to avoid being the objects of the like arbitrary proceedings.

The representations which I now enclose to your Excellency as a sample of the numerous doc.u.ments of a similar nature addressed to me, will, at least, lead His Imperial Majesty to the conclusion that such complaints could not have arisen, and continued under the government of a person calculated to preside over the interests of so important a province.

Your Excellency will find a memorial from the French Consul, marked No. 7, and the other Consuls have only been restrained from sending similar representations from the consideration that, on the squadron quitting this port, the consequences might be highly prejudicial to their interests and those whom they represent.

I would further state to your Excellency the remarkable fact that the President--after having continued a _high pay_ to the soldiery during the existence of those disorders of which they were the instrument--did, at the moment of my taking the command, send me an old order respecting the diminution of the pay of the troops, which order he himself had never put in execution. And it is still more extraordinary, that he since refused _any pay whatever_, to the small number of troops of the line, who are continued in service for the preservation of the tranquillity of the city.

Since my last letters, I have been using all possible diligence to get the remainder of the firearms out of the hands of the lower cla.s.ses of the population. Many, however, have been withheld--a circ.u.mstance which gives additional importance to the extraordinary fact, which I have only by accident learned--that the Junta of Fazenda, acting under the President, issued an order on the 6th of December (an attested copy of which is enclosed), _authorising the sale of powder, and that too, under the false pretence that "all motives for suspending the sale of powder had ceased."_ I have not words in which to express the astonishment I felt at this extraordinary proceeding. I shall only add that, as soon as it came to my knowledge, I gave orders that such sale should not be permitted, and I have since directed the whole of the powder in the magazines at Maranham to be embarked and deposited in a vessel near the anchorage of the s.h.i.+ps-of-war; by which precaution I consider the security of the white population to be in a great measure secured, till His Imperial Majesty shall be enabled to take such steps as in his judgment may appear necessary.

Were I to detail to your Excellency all the facts that lead my mind to a conclusion that this province will be entirely lost to the empire unless a speedy remedy be applied to the evils which here exist--it would be necessary to trespa.s.s upon you at very great length; but as the brother of the Secretary of Government proceeds to Rio de Janeiro by the same conveyance as this, your Excellency and colleagues will be able to obtain from him such further information as may satisfy your minds regarding the state of this province.

(Signed) COCHRANE AND MARANHA.

It was not long before I learned that in many parts troops were being secretly organised to support the President's authority against me, but this was met by removing from command those officers who had either permitted or encouraged military insubordination; supplying their places with others upon whom I could better rely.

An occurrence, however, now took place which threatened to involve Brazil in serious difficulties. From the indiscrimination of Bruce's troops in their career of injury and plunder, some renewed outrages had been committed on French subjects; for which the French consul required reparation from me, as having a.s.sumed the chief authority; at the same time again demanding pa.s.sports for himself and the whole of the French residents, in case of my intention to quit the city and leave Bruce again in power. The British consul also forwarded additional complaints of similar outrages against his countrymen; but, in place of requiring reparation at my hands, he forwarded representations to his own government, requesting protection against the acts of Bruce, at the same time communicating the fact of these representations to me, but declining to furnish me with a copy of his despatch, as I had no direct appointment from the Imperial Government for the authority I was exercising. The demands of the French consul were, however, pressing; but I could only reply with regard to the outrages committed against French subjects by the adherents of the President:--"I was sorry that it was not in my power to remedy past evils; but that such steps had been taken as would prevent their recurrence for the future."

The subjoined is one of the letters of the British Consul:--

British Consul's Office,

Maranha, Dec. 17, 1824.

My Lord,

Understanding that your Lords.h.i.+p has an intention of soon withdrawing your presence from this province, I am forced, as the official and responsible protector of British interests in this quarter, to make the following statement, leaving it to be proved by the facts therein set forth that I am, by this course, adopting the only means within my reach, of providing for the interests confided to my attention, a satisfactory security! and that I am, by so doing, not departing from that line of conduct which, as a neutral officer, I am bound to observe.

By this time your Lords.h.i.+p must be fully aware of the violent character and desolating effects of the late civil commotions throughout this province. These commotions unhappily existed during a protracted period, and whilst they were raging, the regular pursuits of the community were either interrupted by violent party intrigues--suspended by a barbarous warfare--or totally stopped by merciless outrages.

Notwithstanding this disjointed state of society, and the consequent inefficiency of all const.i.tuted authority, the resident British, by general and firm perseverance in a strictly neutral line of conduct, and by calm endurance of not a few unavoidable ills--succeeded in averting from themselves the chief weight of those evils to which all the remaining population were exposed.

But though they now feel grateful at having escaped outrage and have pa.s.sed unhurt amidst general anarchy, still, they recollect, that while by their conduct they were ent.i.tled to protection, they nevertheless continued in a painful anxiety for their safety.

In this state of uncertain security the resident British continued for several months, and when at last intrigue attempted to force them into the general scene of distress--some being openly threatened--your Lords.h.i.+p's providential arrival averted the destruction of many inhabitants, and the dangerous condition of all.

Into this critical situation were British interests at this place thrown by violent party spirit. That spirit, though at present smothered, cannot be totally extinguished without time. It has unsettled the community at large, and disorganised all the military establishments of the province.

After this exposition of facts, I may be allowed to a.s.sert, without thereby offering the least disrespect to any const.i.tuted authority, that your Lords.h.i.+p's presence in this province for the time being is indispensable for the tranquillity and security of all its inhabitants-- because the only means by which legal control can be revived, and consequently an occurrence which must be as desirable and needful to all public functionaries, as I frankly avow it to be to one, who has the honour to declare himself

Your Lords.h.i.+p's Most obedient and humble servant,

ROBERT HESKETH, His Britannic Majesty's Consul.

To the Right Hon. Lord Cochrane, Marquis of Maranha, Admiral, &c. &c.

The letter of the French Consul is even more precise, and therefore I subjoin that also:--