I WAX. 11. 



paay thai intended to lay a cable to I* Plata, 

 and desired to uw it a* a landing itation for 

 He aaid that t.rrat Britain was 

 arbitration. 



Uir cable, lie said that Great Britain wa* 



AfttrVota oorrespondeoce the British Govern- 

 assrt receded from its position and rfWgiM**^ 

 it aaiafatoi lights of Braxil. on condition that 

 m .^l.l *h*ll be rranted. The 



"" 



with France. The ter- 

 i of the Stale of Para and 

 .__^. between theOya|H.k and 

 rers and attending inland to 

 Uwflrtv^ith mendian i rlaimc<l by Uith Braxil 

 and Franrr. The area i* about 80.000 sauars 

 mile*. and the present population perhaps 18,000, 

 unir of Indians and some Creoles at. 



gross. TM claim MM neen put forward in be- 

 half of the French to the whole country north 

 of the Amaaon as far west as the river Branco, 

 embracing 100,000 square miles. I n t he seven- 



and 

 the 



toeatli century France occupied this region 



I' ' ..'.. ".' : i- " "f 



Mt&orn mouth of the Amazon. In the tr< 



boondanr 

 ok. or V 



treaty 



Ttrrcht, concluded April 11. 17R the 

 was defined to be a river called Ja- 

 or incent-Picon. The French and the 

 could not agree afterward what river 

 was meant by these designations. The French 

 held that it wan either the Araguary or the 

 Mapa; the Portuguese claimed that it was the 

 Oyapok. The river Carsevenne was accepted as 

 a compromise boundary in 1797. The treaty of 

 Amiens gave the count rydwn t.thc Ara. 

 to France ; but war annulled that arrangement, 

 and when peace was restored, in 1815, Brazil was 

 to make restoration only of Guiana 



north of the Oyapok. Prance reserving her claim 

 to Uw disputed country even as far as the Ama- 

 son. The French established a military post at 

 Mapa in 1888. hut withdrew it in 1H41 at the 

 earnest solicitation of Brazil. both governments 

 agreeing to treat the district as neutral territory 

 until the boundary lines were settled. The dis- 

 puted region it called sometimes Amapa, or 

 Napa, sometimes Cunane. from the principal 

 inhabited places. A conference was h.-ld at 

 Paris in 1656. at which the Brazilian (i 



fered to accept the Carsevenne, or Car- 

 es the boundary, to which the I 



nent would not agree. The French 

 Government made representations in 1874 t<> t he 

 Brazilian (tovrrnment, protesting that Brazilians 

 vws entering the country and endeavoring to 

 gain over the inhabitants for Brazil Both gov- 

 ernments then engaged to discountenance and 

 ' M-al MBtaafiaft A 

 French journalist named Gros, with a view to 

 prepare the way for annexation by winning over 

 the people, many of whom were de* 

 fugitive Brazilian slave*, and attracting a col- 

 ony of French immigrant*. set up what he called 

 an independent republic at Cunane. of wh. 



himaelf President The Brazilian 



representative at Paris entered a protest against 

 this proceeding, and an official notice was pub- 

 lisbed by the French Government stating that 

 France and Brazil both claimed sovereign 

 over the district. This was sufficient t 

 capitalists and emigrants from going into the 



enterprise, and compelled the amtiitinus adven- 

 turer to retire. When the Mra/.ilian minister in 

 broached t' -rtile- 



.in.w in ISTS. M. Waddington a>suined 

 that Brazil had conceded the t<>rnt<>rv n.-rth.if 

 and that the tract i'n dispute 

 was the area between that Mivam and the Anm- 

 Thi- left the Brazilian Government n<> 

 acceptable basis for negotiations. In 1 s - 



nent suggested a mixed bounda- 

 ry commission. The Bra/.ilian Congress made 

 an appropriation, and in February. is-.C). il,e 

 1-Ven. h legation wjus informed that the Hra/ilian 



Min-nt was ready to negotiate. 

 The <|iiestion had meanwhile become much 



.i-, lit. A Hi/en from Cayenne, 



named Tamtxa, had discovered ri-h pld 

 its, which had l.nnmht an influx of advi-ntnn -rs, 

 mostly from l-'n IK h (iuiana. There was no se- 

 curity for life <.r nronerty in the absence of all 

 civil authority, and when V .il, i IK chief 



of the principal Indian community, assumed to 

 enforce laws and to levy taxes, and pretended to 

 keep order with an armed force, his rule was 

 accepted by the natives and for a time tolerated 

 by the strangers. When the miners becui 

 merous enough to form a community of their 

 own in Cunane and on the Carsevenne river they 

 refused to submit to the regulations and exac- 

 tions of Caliral. They organized an adminis- 

 trative service, with a force of public sun-ty f 

 their own under the command of a settler named 

 Trajane, who received an official comn 

 from the authoritie- in Cayenne and hoiMcd the 

 French flag. A border conflict was thus precipi- 

 tated. The love of fighting as well as the lust 

 for gold drew wild and daring men into the 

 country from both sides. A force of 20 men be- 

 longing to Cabral's constabulary and led by Luis 

 Bentes, a Brazilian officer, inarched to Cunane, 

 hauled down the French tricolor over Trajane's 

 house, replacing it with the Bra/.ilian flae. and 

 carried him off a captive in irons to Mapa. 

 This incident, when it became known in Ca- 



caused there great excitement. Th 

 ernor decided on taking immediate steps tore- 

 store French prestige and prevent the territorial 

 claims from being extinguished by a fait atcom- 

 j>li. He sent the gunboat " Bengali " to 

 with a company of marine infantry under Capt. 

 Lunier. The "marines were rowed 15 miles up 

 the river to the village of Cabralo, where < 

 had his headquarters. Capt. Lunier landed with 

 a part of his force and marched up to Cabnd's 

 Cabral shot the captain, after which a 

 fusillade was opened upon the Frenchmen from 

 all the houses in the village. According to the 

 French account. Capt. Lunier carried a flag of 

 truce, intending merely to demand the release 

 of Trajane. The Brazilians say that the I 

 soldiery wen- ordered to arrest Cabral. wh 

 fense of his liberty. The whole I 

 was soon engaged, and gained the victory 

 after two hours' combat. The Brazilians re- 

 :. however, with fresh forces after the 

 h had burned the village, an. 1 the latter 

 nd took to their boats, carrying off 

 2 Brazilians and a Portuguese subject as prison- 

 ers, and 5 killed and 20 wounded. The Brazil- 

 ian* were reported to have lost 60 men. 

 The French minister at Rio Janeiro entered 



