198 



BRAZIL. 



part, but that no inquest had been held on the 

 bodies, nor had any information been given to 

 the authorities as to the wreck. The consul 

 accordingly proceeded to the spot in company 

 with a judicial officer and a small body of coast 

 guards. On arriving there he went to the 

 house of the magistrate, who was absent. His 

 visit was not very well received, und in the 

 house was found some portion of the cargo of 

 the wrecked vessel, which evidently had not 

 been in the sea, but had been removed from 

 the vessel, and had not been damaged by sea 

 water. On the following day the consul went 

 to the coast and found the remains of an Eng- 

 lish vessel, the Prince of "Wales. The sands 

 were covered with the cargo, some portion of 

 which was damaged by the sea, but a very 

 large portion was not damaged at all. The 

 trunks had been broken open and their con- 

 tents plundered. He had heard that ten bodies 

 of Englishmen had been found upon the coast, 

 and he desired to see the bodies, but the in- 

 spector of the district resisted ths attempt, and 

 being at the head of a body of armed men, the 

 consul was obliged to desist, and he returned 

 to Eio de Janeiro. After some trouble he ob- 

 tained from the authorities their aid in having 

 the bodies brought to Rio de Janeiro, but at his 

 own expense. Instead, however, of ten bodies 

 being brought, there were only four, upon which 

 an inquest was held. On further remonstrance 

 an inquest was directed to be held on the re- 

 maining bodies, but no person from the con- 

 sulate was present, and the persons appointed 

 to carry on the inquest were a sub-delegate 

 and the brother-in-law of the magistrate, who 

 was suspected to have been a party to wreck- 

 ing the vessel. 



Application was made for redress, but it 

 was not till September 18, 1861, that any steps 

 were taken by the Brazilian Government. 

 The compensation then offered not being deem- 

 ed sufficient by the British Government, they 

 demanded that further inquiry should be made. 

 This request was not complied with till the 

 month of August, 1862. Mr. Christie then 

 demanded that a British officer should be pres- 

 ent at the inquiry, but that was refused. Late 

 in August the Brazilian Government announced 

 that two of the minor officials had been dis- 

 missed for culpable neglect, but no steps were 

 taken to punish the principal culprit. 



This alleged outrage was the first cause of 

 complaint. The second act complained of took 

 place on June 7, 1862, just a year after the 

 wreck at Albardao. It consisted in the arrest 

 and detention for a night and a day of two of 

 the officers and the chaplain of the British ship 

 Forte. Mr. Christie's representation was, that 

 the three had been dining ashore in the suburbs 

 of Rio de Janeiro, and were quietly returning 

 to their ships when stopped by the sentry on 

 duty at a guard house near the beach ; that on 

 resisting their unprovoked detention, one of 

 them was wounded by the soldier's musket, 

 and they were locked up without having in the 



least misconducted themselves. The Brazilian 

 authorities replied to this representation, after 

 examining witnesses among them the English 

 master of the hotel at which the gentlemen 

 had dined that the officers and chaplain had 

 been drinking as well as dining ; that they in- 

 sulted the sentry and annoyed the passers-by ; 

 that they were not in uniform, and refused to 

 give their names and rank ; that they were 

 locked up, in fact, for being drunk and disor- 

 derly, and were released after a detention that 

 was not unreasonably long or offensive. Not- 

 withstanding this explanation of the affair, 

 Mr. Christie, acting upon authority from Lord 

 Russell, demanded the dismissal of two officers, 

 the farther reprimand of two others, and the 

 punishment of the sentinel. 



In consequence of the refusal of the Brazilian 

 Government to comply with the British de- 

 mands, Mr. Christie, on Dec. 5, 1862, despatched 

 three notes to the Brazilian Minister of For- 

 eign Affairs, to which he demanded a definite 

 reply by the 20th of the same month. 



As these notes did not bring forward any 

 new argument in support of the British de- 

 mands, the Brazilian Government, in a note of 

 December 29, after giving a detailed account of 

 what had occurred, of the investigations that 

 had been made, and of the explanations which 

 had been offered to the British legation, ad- 

 hered to its former refusal. While it referred 

 the final settlement of the question to the Brit- 

 ish Government and the Brazilian legation at 

 London, it protested energetically against hav- 

 ing any responsibility in the case of the Prince 

 of Wales, and peremptorily declined payment, 

 declaring that if it should be forced to yield in 

 the question of indemnification it would only 

 pay the sum demanded by the British legation 

 or the British Government under protest. 



In reply to this note, Mr. Christie ordered a 

 declaration to be posted at the doors of the 

 British consulate, to the effect that, the Bra- 

 zilian Government having refused to give satis- 

 faction to Great Britain, Admiral Warren would 

 be immediately instructed to retaliate by seiz- 

 ing Brazilian property. This order was prompt- 

 ly executed. At night, on December 30, the 

 English war. steamers Stromboli and Curlew 

 quitted the bay of Rio. The preceding even- 

 ing the telegraph had signalled the capture of 

 a Brazilian vessel outside the bar by an Eng- 

 lish steamer. Popular indignation at this in- 

 telligence ran very high, and large numbers of 

 excited but inoffensive groups collected in the 

 streets. On Jan. 6, 1863, it transpired that the 

 Stromboli had reentered the bay during the 

 past night, bringing news of the capture of five 

 vessels, one of which was a steamer, their en- 

 tire cargoes being valued at 30,000 sterling. 

 The irritation of the people now became ex- 

 treme. The entire population, with boundless 

 enthusiasm, applauded the refusal of the minis- 

 try to comply with the demands of the British 

 minister. The indignation manifested against 

 England was intense, and caused the apprehen- 



