History of the Atlantic Cable & Undersea Communications
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Britain Seizes Trindade (Trinidad) Island, 1895-96
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History of the Atlantic Cable & Undersea Communications |
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Britain Seizes Trindade (Trinidad) Island, 1895-96 |
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MR. HICKEY'S TRINIDAD
INVADED; Great Britain's Warship Barracouta Takes Possession of the Land
While the Prince Is in California. In the dark, in January, this year, Great Britain took possession of the Island of Trinidad, the fairy Island of Trinidad, whereof Baron Harden-Hickey is sovereign. BRAZIL DEFIES BRITAIN BRAZIL DEFIES BRITAIN Invasion of Trinidad
Island Excites ENVOY'S LETTER READ IN CONGRESS Passionate Reply
of Deputy Belisario Special Cablegram to The New-York Times. RIO DE JANEIRO, via Galveston, July 25. - A letter of the Envoy and Minister of Great Britain to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, saying that his Government had taken possession of the Island of Trinidad, in order to lay a cable in the River Plate, was read to the Brazilian Congress here yesterday, The Envoy said that Great Britain will not abandon its rights over Trinidad. Representative Belisario replied that Brazil will drive the English off Trinidad. Representative Belisario's expression of this sentiment was much applauded. The occupation of the island continues to excite much indignation among the people who declare that the taking of Trinidad is another instance of Great Britain's landgrabbing policy. In Sao Paulo, capital of the State of that name, the news caused much excitement. A crowd gathered in front of the British Consulate and hooted the Consul and the country he represented. Fortunately the disturbance went no further. Front Page 1 -- No Title New York Times Jul 27, 1895; pg. 1 LONDON, July 26. - The Times will tomorrow publish a dispatch from Rio Janeiro, saying that a protest has been raised against landing the direct Argentine cable on the Island of Trinidad. The dispatch adds that the Chamber of Deputies has unanimously adopted a motion made by Senhor Pocanhas, referring to British aggression, and urging the Government to make more energetic and spirited declarations on the disputed rights of Brazil. BRAZIL ENLIGHTENS
BRITAIN BRAZIL ENLIGHTENS BRITAIN Trinidad's Discovery
by the Portuguese Special Cable Dispatch to The New-York- Times. RIO DE JANEIRO, via Galveston; July 30. - The text of the letter of the Brazilian Minister of Foreign Affairs to the Envoy and Minister of Great Britain in Brazil tells the history of the Island of Trinidad, which Great Britain has invaded, and possession of which, it presumes to retain. Trinidad was discovered by the Portuguese in 1501.. The English navigator, Dr. Halley, arrived at the island and wrote a description of it in his logbook in 1700. Cook took possession of the island in his Majesty's name in 1781. The Portuguese recaptured Trinidad in 1783, and voluntarily abandoned it in 1795. visited Trinidad, and the conditions of the island have been studied by the Brazilian Government for development as a part of Brazil's domains. Enthusiastic cheers greeted the cruiser Newark as it left this port to-day for Trinidad. FEARS OF SERIOUS
TROUBLE. FEARS OF SERIOUS TROUBLE. J. C. Redman Describes
Trinidad and WASHINGTON, July 30. - The British occupation of the Island of Trinidad does not seem to have attracted much attention as yet at the State Department, but it is feared in some quarters that it will result in trouble between Great Britain and Brazil. J. C. Redman, who is a brother-in-law of Minister Salvador de Medonça of Brazil and one of the best-informed men in Washington on South American politics, said today: "The Island of Trinidad is 500 miles east of Rio de Janeiro, and is a desolate mass of rocks, covered with stunted vegetation. I remember reading, a few years ago, of an effort that was being made in New-York City to get up a colony to be planted on this island, which was pictured as a paradise. The colonization scheme was a hoax, of course, and nothing ever came from it, further than the talk in the newspapers. There are records of only four instances in which this island has been visited, and in one of these attempts to land, the sailors succeeded in getting ashore and securing a supply of water. "No attention has ever been paid to the island, but its possession by Brazil is based on a treaty with Portugal, in which the latter country ceded to Brazil all the islands on that coast. As the Island of Trinidad was a Portuguese possession, it seems to be conclusive that it now belongs to Brazil. "It does not seem possible that any use could be made of the island, except that for which it is desired by Great Britain, which seeks to establish a cable station on it. The coast is rocky, and there is not even an inlet along its line in which a vessel or boat might seek shelter. It would require an immense expenditure to make this mountain in the sea desirable as a coaling station, but if this were done, by the building of great breakwaters to shelter vessels, it would be an impregnable fortress." If the colonization scheme which Mr. Redman describes as a hoax is Baron Harden-Hickey's, Mr. Redman may be persuaded that he is mistaken. Baron Harden-Hickey's scheme is serious. There are postage stamps of the Principality of Trinidad. There are none bearing marks of any Post Office in the world, it is true, but philatelists have bought them. TRINIDAD'S PRINCE
AWAKE TRINIDAD'S PRINCE AWAKE An Appeal to Washington Against Brazil and Great Britain. YARD SAYS THE LAND IS BARREN Nevertheless the
Chancellor to Harden Hickey, That Is James A FUTURE AMERICAN BELGIUM IMAGINED Grounds upon Which
Rest the Claims Trinidad is a principality; Baron Harden Hickey, under the name of James I., is the sovereign. Great Britain has seized Trinidad for a cable station; Brazil has made a formal protest and sent the cruiser Newark to the island to emphasize its declaration of ownership of the territory. Baron Harden Hickey is in California. He has no cruiser, but he has a Grand Chancellor, located in West Thirty-sixth Street, NewYork City. This fact will be made evident by the following state document of the Trinidad Chancellery, which is now in possession of the State Department in Washington: New-York, July 30, 1895. Excellency: I have the honor to recall to your memory: First, That in the course of the month of September; 1893, Baron Harden Hickey has officially notified all the powers of his taking of possession of the uninhabited Island of Trinidad; and, Second, that in the course of January, 1894, he has renewed to all these powers the official notification of the said taking of possession, and has informed them at the same time that from that date the land would be known as "Principality of Trinidad"; that he took the title of "Prince of Trinidad," and would reign under the name of James I. In consequence of these official notifications, several powers have recognized the new Principality and its Prince, and at all events none has thought it necessary at that epoch to raise objections or formulate opposition. The press of the entire world has, on the other hand, often acquainted readers with these facts, thus giving to them all possible publicity. In consequence of the accomplishment of these various formalities, and as the law of nations prescribes that "derelict" territories belong to whoever will take possession of them, and as the Island of Trinidad, which has been abandoned for years, certainly belongs to the aforesaid category, his Serene Highness Prince James I. was authorized to regard his rights on the said island as perfectly valid and indisputable. Nevertheless, your Excellency knows that recently, in spite of all the legitimate rights of my august sovereign, an English warship has disembarked at Trinidad a detachment of armed troops and taken possession of the island in the name of England. Following this assumption of territory, the Brazilian Government, invoking a right of ancient Portuguese occupation, (long ago outlawed,) has notified the English Government to surrender the island to Brazil. I beg of your Excellency to ask of the Government of the United States of North America to recognize the Principality of Trinidad as an independent State, and to come to an understanding with the other American powers in order to guarantee its neutrality. Thus, the Government of the United States of North America will once more accord its powerful assistance to the cause of right and of justice, misunderstood by England and Brazil, put an end to a situation which threatens to disturb the peace, re-establish concord between two great States ready to appeal to arms, and affirm itself, moreover, as the faithful interpreter of the Monroe doctrine. In the expectation of your reply, please accept, Excellency, the expression of my elevated consideration. The Grand Chancellors, To his Excellency Mr. the Secretary of State of the Republic of the United States of North America; Washington, D.C. Trinidad's Chancellery is not in a palace; it is in one of the rooms of a dwelling house built on the block system. Trinidad, itself, is not luxurious. M. le Comte de la Boissiere is luxuriously dressed. In white wool, and in white silk striped with pale blue, he bowed affably to the reporter for The New-York Times. "Do you like my appeal to Washington?" he asked. "I have sent it to all the Ministers Plenipotentiary, Ambassadors, Envoys, and diplomatic agents. Oh, everybody knows about the Principality now. Everybody knew before, for all the newspapers had made its fame resound. They were not all friendly newspapers; some of them treated us in a deplorably frivolous manner, but all served to make ignorance of our claim inexcusable. It would be childish for Brazil or for England to plead ignorance of our authority now. Our claim has been admitted by some powers, since they have sent answers to our notifications." "Of course," said the reporter. "Then there are your subjects to be considered. Nobody believes that they will indifferently let themselves become Britons or Brazilans." "Our subjects!" exclaimed M. de la Boissiere. "Well, we need not talk about them. The question of population has no bearing in such affairs. There would have been a stock of subjects at Trinidad now, if the English had not seized the land." "Was the land so seductive?" asked the reporter. "The Brazilians did not care for it," said M. de la Boissiere, "but they are not well informed about the coast of Brazil. There are other merits in Trinidad than those which we have published. At all events, we are the only power having any right in Trinidad. Is not my neutrality idea good? It satisfies the Brazilians, who have no reason to fear an invasion from us, and have a thousand reasons to fear the proximity of Great Britain. It is not the loss of' the island, but its English occupation, that the Brazilians resent." M. de la Boissiere spoke with enthusiasm of the future of the Principality of Trinidad, defended by the United States and by Brazil, "an American Belgium," recognized by all the powers in the world, filled with monuments of modern art, industrious, as rich as Golconda, progressive, brilliant, and charmingly aristocratic. Trinidad, Brazil, and the Lion. New York Times Aug 17, 1895; pg. 2 Trinidad, Brazil, and the Lion. From The Pall Mall Gazette. The Times waxes quite playful this morning over the Island of Trinidad and the raving of the "fitly named Belisario," who, "obeying the irresistible cults of patriotism," is about "to rise and tear away the paws of the British lion from this piece of country which is sacred to Brazil." So sacred is this territory that no Brazilian has ever set foot on it, and not one in a million had heard of it or its monstrous land crabs till the British lion placed its paw there. But no matter, Senor Belisario will tear that paw away or will perish in the attempt. Our army of occupation consisted of one gunner - Governor - and one ship's surgeon as medical officer. All we want, is a half-way house for a new cable to connect Europe with South America, without giving Brazil control of the cable. That country has an unpleasant habit of forbidding the dispatch of telegrams containing news distasteful to the powers which for a brief moment chance to be. Still, if Brazil can prove her right to Trinidad she shall have it back, if only to prevent Senor Belisario from hurting his fingers. Ascension might serve our purpose as well, and Senor Belisario does not purpose to tear our paws from that. New York Times Aug 23, 1895; pg. 4 ENGLAND AND TRINIDAD. The question arising out of the seizure of Trinidad by England has been discussed in this country almost entirely as a joke. Indeed, the comic aspects of it are the most striking. There is, in the first place, the fact that the island is a barren rock, upon which nothing can support life but ravenous land crabs, and that does not even afford fresh water. Nobody thus far has found it of the slightest use for any purpose whatever, and if it is found to be useful for a telegraph station, that seems to be so much gained for mankind at large. Then there is that preposterous potentate who settled it, as a "derelict" island, for the purpose of furnishing his name with a more imposing handle than that of Baron, and who likes to call himself James I. of Trinidad. His pretensions would give an air of burlesque to a conflict over the Garden of Eden. But then there is a right and a wrong way of doing these things, and the Paris Temps, while by no means insensible to the comic aspects of the question, points out very soberly and judiciously that Great Britain has taken the wrong way. If the British Foreign Office had informed the Brazilian Foreign Office that it had a use for the island for which Brazil had no use and would like to acquire it, Brazil would no doubt have ceded it outright or sold it for the nominal price which is all that it is worth. But for one nation to land a man-of-war's crew upon a rock which is clearly the property of another, "take possession " of it, and hoist its flag is a discourteous, not to say barbarous and piratical, procedure. It is no wonder that that patriotic and tropical Brazilian who proposed to "tear away the claws of the British lion" from Trinidad should have been indignant or that the Brazilians in general should have sympathized with him. As the Temps very well says, the British reasoning that the island is of use to Great Britain and of no use to Brazil "might justify the exercise of a right already acquired, but could not create a right." Our French contemporary adds that the question has no great practical importance, but it has a great moral significance. It really concerns the reputation of Great Britain that if she desires Trinidad she should take a more civil and a more civilized way of getting it. BRAZIL AGAINST BRITAIN BRAZIL AGAINST BRITAIN Historical and Legal
Rights to the CARVALHO'S DEXTEROUS DIPLOMACY Documents Establishing
Rights of Public interest has
been so captivated by news of the occupation of the Brazilian In his "Chorographia do Brazil," Dr Moreira Pinto, using the reports of Brazilian naval officers commanding school ships which have made Trinidad one of their points of call in annual cruises, says: "At some distance from the coast, (about 650 miles,) are the three islands of Martin Vaz and that of Trinidad. "The latter is about three miles long from north-northwest to south-southeast, and six miles in circumference. It is entirely covered with mountains and bordered with cliffs rising into sharp peaks along the shore except on the southern side, where there is a narrow beach of very white sand, in the only inlet of any importance on the island. In front of this beach, however, are many rocks, some sunken, others above the surface, which must be passed before reaching it. At this extremity of the island, too, is the Sugar Loaf, 1,200 feet high, which resembles the rock of the same name at the entrance to the harbor of Rio de Janeiro. Through a ravine or gorge which descends from a tableland that exhibits some signs of fertility on the summit of the mountain on the southeastern side, a feeble stream flows down in an irregular and shallow channel, and falls into the sea a little to the north of the beach. The small volume of water discharged by this stream seems to indicate that it is not perennial. "At the southern extremity of the island an immense rock, of a reddish color, rises to the height of 200 feet. Through this the sea has opened a tunnel of more than 400 feet in length, through which the waves rush with a tremendous noise. From this point of the island, also, extends the only reef, which is about 1,000 feet long. The northeastern and northwestern faces of the island are very ragged and bordered with sharp coral rocks. From the north the island appears to be a mountain of rock, completely arid. "The western side, at a little distance from the sea, rises perpendicularly, and shows a cliff, detached from the principal mass, 800 feet in height, to which the sailors have given the name of the Monument, and which is very like the peak of Fernando de Noronha. "Between the monument and another peak to the southwest a very small stream flows from the top of the principal mountain. This is the only part of the island where bushes and shrubs may be seen growing in the ravines of the highest cliffs "On the southwest of the island the shore line is broken by a few small inlets, in one of which is a little beach of red sand, where, under favorable conditions, a raft may land; but in this part of the island a landing in boats could be dangerous under any circumstances, on account of the sunken rocks in front of the beach." The island is situated in latitude 20° 31' south and longitude 13° 47' 57" east of Rio de Janeiro. News to Brazil of Britain's Landing The occupation of the island by the British was first brought to the notice of the Brazilian Government by an item printed in The Financial News of London. The Minister of Foreign Affairs at once telegraphed to the Brazilian Minister in London, asking for immediate information. A telegram from the latter, dated July 21, informed the Brazilian Government that the British Foreign Office had since January been in possession of the knowledge of such occupation for the purpose of landing the Argentine cable, but that no publication had been made or official notice been given of the fact. The Foreign Office based its right of occupation on that of Dr. Halley in 1700: on the existence at Trinidad of an English colony, founded in 1781, and on regular visits made to the island by British vessels after its abandonment by that colony in 1782. The last visit was made by the Ruby in 1889. Two days before the receipt of this dispatch the Brazilian Minister of Foreign Affairs had opened a correspondence on the subject with Mr. Phipps, the British Minister at Rio de Janeiro. In his first note Senhor Carvalho manifests surprise at the confirmation of the news of the occupation of the island, which had been given to him by Mr. Phipps on the afternoon of the 20th, and notifies him that the order to send a man-of-war to the island to ascertain the fact of such occupation, had been countermanded, in view of the confirmation of it by Mr. Phipps himself. He then enters into a brief historical exposition of the facts on which the legal possession is based, but, like a skillful player, reserves his trump cards until he has discovered the hand of his adversary, and plays them with such success in his second note as to make the position of the English Government completely ridiculous. Senhor Carvalho refers to the historical fact of the discovery of the island In 1501 by the Portuguese, whereas the first visit by the English was made by Halley in 1700, and the second by Capt. Cook in 1775. He alludes to the occupation of the island by the British in 1781, when, in their war with Spain, they desired to use it as a point from which to harass the Spanish commerce with the colonies of the Plata; to the protest made by Spain to Portugal against this use of her territory, with the result that the latter sent an expedition to force its evacuation, and the establishment there of a Portuguese garrison in 1782. In 1785, says Senhor Carvalho, La Perouse found the Portuguese flag on the island, and it was not until ten years later that the garrison was withdrawn and brought to Rio de Janeiro. When, in 1822, Brazil became independent the island ceased to belong to Portugal. In 1825 a Brazilian corvette was dispatched to the island, and in 1831 the Government ordered an examination, with the object of making a profitable use of it. The corvette Dona Isabel was sent there in 1856: the Bahiana and the Nictheroy were sent in 1871, the latter again in 1884; and, lastly, the transport Penedo visited the island in April, 1894. Even before the sending of the Penedo, says Senhor Carvalho, the Government had taken steps to establish a convict colony on the island, and refers his correspondent to documents of the Department of Justice, dated July 11 and Oct. 14, 1891. The geographies of Malta Brun and Eliseé Reclus, editions of 1894, describe the Island as belonging to Brazil. He mentions that in 1854 the Imperial Government had given a concession to one of its subjects to establish salt works in the island, and concludes his exposition of historical facts and official acts by declaring that they constitute an unquestionable basis for the claims of Brazil to the dominion of the island. He then proceeds to show by citations from eminent and recognized authorities that there had been no abandonment of the island by Brazil, and deduces from this the illegality of the British occupation. He asks Mr. Phipps to present these considerations to her Majesty's Government as the protest of Brazil. Great Britain's Claim of Ownership. Mr. Phipps in his
note of reply, dated July 20, informs the Brazilian Minister of Foreign
Affairs that he is instructed to communicate to him that the island was
first taken possession of by the British in 1700, at which time there
was found no He expresses his opinion that, in view of these facts, there can no longer be any question of sending a man-of-war to the island. Senhor Carvalho's answer to the above note is dated July 23. In this note the skill of the Brazilian Minister is shown, for, having drawn from the British Government a declaration that the right of Brazil to Trinidad cannot be paramount to that of Great Britain, he suddenly confronts Mr. Phipps with the fact that such paramount right had already been recognized by Great Britain, and, for the evidence of this, refers Lord Salisbury to the archives of his own Foreign Office. He calls his attention to the order issued by the British Admiralty, Aug. 22, 1782, for the evacuation of the island and its immediate delivery to the Portuguese Government. He offers to Mr. Phipps a copy of the instructions given by the Viceroy of Brazil for the establishment of a garrison on the island in December, 1782, on the withdrawal of the British force. Mr. Phipps is invited to verify that the British occupation of 1700 is illegal equally in view of previous and of subsequent facts. Senhor Carvalho then
calls the attention of the British Minister to the measures taken in 1724
by King John of Portugal to prevent the English Guinea Company from using
the island in the slave trade - the malice of this reminder may have been In view of the above considerations, Senhor Carvalho does not doubt that the present Government of Great Britain will repeat the act of 1752 in voluntarily withdrawing from the island, in order that the good relations existing between the two countries may not be disturbed, and concludes with a strong protest against the exercise of any act of sovereignty by Great Britain in Trinidad. In response to a request of the Chamber of Deputies of the Brazilian Congress, Senhor Carvalho transmitted to that body July 23 copies of the notes exchanged between Mr. Phipps and himself, and of the documents alluded to in their correspondence, in attestation of the facts on which he rests the right of Brazil to the sovereignty of Trinidad. July 25 and 26 the Senate and Chamber of Deputies of the Brazilian Congress passed resolutions without a dissenting voice, pledging their support to the executive in maintaining the incontestable right of Brazil to the island of Trinidad. Brazil's Documents in the Case. The following are the documents submitted to the Brazilian Chamber of Deputies by the Minister of Foreign Relations, in response to a request for information in regard to the British occupation of the island of Trinidad in January: Ministry of Foreign
Relations, In the name of the President of the republic, 1 have the honor of furnishing the information asked by the Chamber in relation to the occupation of the island of Trinidad by a European power, and which forms the subject of your communication of this date. On the 19th inst. I had the honor of being informed by Mr. Phipps, Minister Plenipotentiary of her Britannic Majesty, that the news of the occupation of the island of Trinidad, which had appeared in certain newspapers, by subjects of her Majesty, appeared to him to have some foundation. I immediately remarked that, inasmuch as that island was in the dominion of the Republic of Brazil, such occupation would be illegal and could not be continued, adding that, the fact of such dominion did not admit of doubt, as would be shown at the proper time. I told him that I had by telegram called on the Brazilian Legation in London for information regarding the matter, and mentioned the public excitement that such an act would arouse, at this time, when other events of an international character were awakening the natural and noble sentiment of patriotism. In consequence of the announcement in one of our newspapers on the following day of the intention of the Federal Government to dispatch a man-of-war to the island to ascertain the fact of the reported occupation, Mr. Phipps was so kind as to call on me at 3 o'clock in the afternoon, and to inform me that he was then able to state that the news of said occupation in the name of the British Crown was true, and that the island had been in British possession since February last, being regarded as abandoned territory, bearing no mark of possession by any other nation. I did not disguise the surprise, not to say displeasure, which I felt at this statement, and repeated my declarations of the day before, as attested by historical facts and the testimony of geographers. Mr. Phipps then said to me that, inasmuch as all doubts as to the fact of the occupation had been removed, it would be proper to countermand the order to dispatch a war vessel, as he would at once communicate my observations to his Government, and would probably within forty-eight hours receive instructions to treat of this incident, so disagreeable in view of the friendly relations of the two countries. I think it my duty to present in this connection, as I promised Mr. Phipps, my reasons for declaring illegal the recent occupation of the Island of Trinidad; but, before doing so, permit me to inform you that, by a telegram received yesterday, the Brazilian Legation in London had learned from the Foreign Office that the island was occupied in the name of the British Government as a landing place for the Argentine submarine cable, and that no publication or notification whatever had been made of said act. The Island of Trinidad is, as Mr. Phipps knows, situated in latitude 20 degrees 31 minutes south, and longitude 13 degrees 47 minutes 57 seconds east of the meridian of Rio de Janeiro, and, according to the "Practice of Navigation and Nautical Astronomy" of H. Rapper, Lieutenant, Royal Navy, seventh edition, London, 1862, is situated 561 miles from the coast of the State of Espirito Santo. It was discovered by the Portuguese in 1501, and it was not till April 15, 1700, that the English Captain, Halley, visited the island, and May 31, 1775, Capt. Cook, in his second voyage, landed there. In 1781, the Government of Great Britain, which was then at war with Spain, ordered the occupation of the island, as a point from which to attack the commerce of the latter with her colonies on the Plata, and that step gave occasion for a serious protest by Spain to the Government of Portugal, which ordered the Viceroy of Brazil to send a force to effect the withdrawal of the English. A Portuguese garrison was, thereupon, in 1782, established in the island, and the Viceroy was directed, Sept. 16 of the same year, to keep up regular communication with it. La Perouse, on his voyage in 1785, saw the Portuguese flag flying on a mountain of the island, and it was not until Feb. 6, 1795, that the military force and armament were withdrawn. These were embarked on the frigate Princeza da Beira, and arrived at Rio de Janeiro on the 11th of October following. The possession of the island by Portugal ceased with the establishment of Brazilian Independence. In 1825, the Brazilian corvette Itaparica, commanded by Capt. George de Brito, was sent thither by the Government of Brazil, and in 1831, the Regent, in the name of the Emperor, ordered measures to be taken in view of making use of the island. The corvette Dona Izabel, in 1856; the Bahiana, in 1871; the Nictheroy in the same year, and again in 1884 and the war transport Penedo, in April, 1894, visited the island in commission of the Government of Brazil. Even before the dispatch of the Penedo, in 1894, the Government had begun to take steps for using the island as a penal settlement, as is shown by official documents of the Department of Justice, of dates July 11 and Oct. 14, 1891. The geographies of Malte Brun and Elisée Reclus (the latter in the edition of 1894) mention the Island of Trinidad as a Brazilian possession, not to name Pierre Larousse, (Dictionnaire Universel, Vol. XV.) I must further call the attention of Mr. Phipps to the fact that, under the empire, the Brazilian Government, by Decree No. 9,334, of Nov. 29, 1884, granted to a citizen, Joao Alves Guerra, a concession for mining and establishing salt works in Trinidad, as belonging to the then Province of Espirito Santo. The conclusion from these facts is clear. The act of occupation is a legal mode of acquiring dominion only in regard to things without owner - res nullius - that is, things not in the dominion of another, either because they never belonged to any one, or because they have been abandoned by their former proprietor. But abandonment cannot be presumed as contrary to the rule of nemo suum jactare presumitur. It depends upon the intention to give up the possession, and on the loss of physical power to retain the same, and is not to be confounded with the mere cessation of protection or "desertion." The owner may leave his property unprotected, and still preserve his dominion over it. The fact of lawful possession does not consist in actual holding of the property, but in keeping it at the free disposition of the owner; and, the absence of the proprietor, the cessation of protection, or mere desertion, do not exclude free disposal, whence the rule, "animo retinetur possessio." Gaius (Inst. Chapter 4, Section 154,) says: "Quoniam possidemus animo solo quum volumus retinere possessionem." " Neque vero deseri locum aliquem satis est, ut pro delicto habendus sit, sed manifestis appareat indiciis derelinquendi affectio" adds Miölenbrack (Doctrina Pandect; Sections 241 and 251.) Abandonment, then, can result only from the express declaration of the purpose, inasmuch as in the animus resides the possibility of the re-exercise of the former will of acquisition and possession, and, as says Savigny, (Section 32), it is not necessary for the proprietor to preserve constantly his consciousness of the possession. To constitute abandonment there must be a new exercise of will in a sense contrary to the first, "animus in contrarium actus." We read in the Institutes: "Pro derelicto autem habetur quod dominus ea mente adjecerit, ut id rerum suarum est nolit." When the thing, whose abandonment is claimed in order to justify its occupation, belongs to a nation, more rigorous still becomes the necessity of establishing it on a positive and express manifestation of the purpose to no longer continue in its possession, because abandonment cannot be presumed in territorial domain; the presumption is not that it is "res nullius," as in the case in the Institutes, "Insula quae in mare nata est (quod raro accidit) occupantis fit: nullius enim esse creditur." If the Island of Trinidad was discovered by the Portuguese and occupied by them with a military force until 1795; if that fact is historical and ignorance of the same is excluded by the memory of man; if by positive and public acts the Brazilian Government has always shown its conviction that the Island of Trinidad was part of the national territory, the claim that it is "res nullius" is not sustained. Possession is lost corpore only when the power of using the thing becomes impossible -with the disappearance of the date of things which permits the disposal of the possession. If Brazil has not, by express act, manifested her purpose to abandon the island, which became her property by the fact of her political independence; and if - and this must be admitted by Mr. Phipps - a state of things does not exist which prevents Brazil from disposing of, or making use of, the island, when, and in the manner she may deem proper, she has, along with her dominion, preserved her possession of it in all its integrity, and, there being no case of "res pro derelicto," its occupation in the name of the English Government does not constitute a lawful title of acquisition to its dominion. I present these considerations to Mr. Phipps and trust that he will have the goodness to submit them to the Government of her Majesty, as a protest against the occupation of the Island of Trinidad, as forming part of the territory of Brazil, and feel sure that, considering the evidence of the non-abandonment of the said island, and of its not being, in consequence, "res nullius," orders will be given for its "dis-occupation," thus respecting the sentiments of justice, and emphasizing once more the disposition of the two Governments to preserve unchanged the relations which now exist between them. However insignificant might be the value of the Island of Trinidad, the Federal Government would consider itself bound to act as now, because the National pride would not consider itself less affected, even if the violation of its right were consciously and intentionally done. I renew to the Minister,
the assurances, etc., etc. CARLOS DE CARVALHO. Note of the British Legation. Petropolis, July
20, 1895. I am instructed to inform your Excellency that the possession of the island in question was first taken by Great Britain in the year 1700. No evidence was then found of Portuguese possession, and no protest was made by Portugal. In the opinion, therefore, of the Marquis of Salisbury, there cannot be any Brazilian title to the island superior to that of Great Britain. When her Majesty's Government resumed possession of that island and of Martin Vaz, in January last, no trace of foreign occupation was found, and, as Trinidad is required as a telegraph cable station, her Majesty's Government cannot consent to waive their rights to it. I had great pleasure in informing Lord Salisbury that your Excellency had, in the most friendly manner, shared the view which I did myself the honor of expressing, that it was inexpedient, pending my reference of the question to her Majesty's government, that a Brazilian ship of war should be sent to Trinidad, and I feel convinced that your Excellency will not fail to perceive that there can now be no question of sending a ship to assert a right of sovereignty over an island in the possession of her Majesty's Government. I avail myself of
the opportunity, Sir, to renew to your Excellency the assurances, &c.
CON. PHIPPS. Second Note Addressed by Senhor Carvalho. Rio de Janeiro, July
23, 1895. Mr. Phipps will permit me to reply to Lord Salisbury through him that the best title of the right of Brazil to the Island of Trinidad is the solemn, positive, and practical recognition of that right by the British Admiralty, which, Aug. 22, 1782, dispatched peremptory orders to the English officer in command on the Island of Trinidad to evacuate it without delay and deliver it to the Portuguese Government, as belonging to the dominions of the King of Portugal in America and subject to the Viceroy of Brazil. Mr. Phipps will thus see that Lord Salisbury, in dating the British title in 1700, when Capt. Halley called at the Island of Trinidad, that had been discovered by the Portuguese in the beginning of the sixteenth century, falls into an error which the British archives will easily correct. I offer to the consideration of Mr. Phipps a copy of the instructions given Dec. 7, 1782, by the Viceroy of Brazil, to the Captain commanding the ship Nossa Senhora dos Prazeres for the establishment of a garrison on the Island of Trinidad on its evacuation by the English force, which was in unrightful possession. The Viceroy, Dec. 20 of the same year, advised his Government of the execution of these orders. From these documents Mr. Phipps will see that Great Britain yielded to justice and reason in withdrawing from the island and recognizing those rights to which Brazil succeeded, when her political independence was secured, and by the fact that the island was within the jurisdiction of the Government of Rio de Janeiro. The title of 1700, invoked by Lord Salisbury, is refuted equally by anterior and by subsequent facts. I submit also for the consideration of Mr. Phipps the royal order dated Feb. 22 1724, in which King John of Portugal directs measures to be taken to prevent the use of the Island of Trinidad in the slave trade by the English Company of Guinea. This, it cannot be denied, was a solemn protest against the act of Capt. Halley in 1700. I fulfill a duty in appealing to the sense of justice of the Government of her Majesty, in order to remove any cause for disturbance of the existing good relationship between Great Britain and Brazil. I doubt not that the proof of what I affirm will be followed by the voluntary evacuation of the Island-of Trinidad, as was done by the Government of her Britannic Majesty in 1782. And, inasmuch as, at the close of his note, Mr. Phipps alludes to the suggestion which he made to me; to countermand the order to dispatch a Brazilian man-of-war to the Island of Trinidad to ascertain what was there taking place, and, in view of the declaration by his Government that there was no longer any necessity for sending it to learn whether the Government of her Majesty was exercising any act of sovereignty in the occupation of said island, I hereby make the most energetic protest against such assertion, and stand fast by each and all the rights of the Republic of the United States of Brazil, asking permission to impress upon Mr. Phipps, in confirmation of what I verbally declared to him to-day, that, strong in her right, the Republic of Brazil will not abandon it, relying, above all, on the sentiments of justice of the Government of her Majesty, the Queen of England. I renew to the Minister
the assurances, &c. CARLOS DE CARVALHO. Order Given by the British Admiralty. By the Commissioners
exercising the office of Lord Grand Admiral of Great Britain, In compliance with
the determination of the King, communicated to us by Lord Given under our seal
on the 22d of August, 1782. To Capt. Philip d'Auvergne or the officer who may be in command of the forces of his Majesty, left in the Island of Trinidad by Commodore Johnstone. By order of their
Excellencies. Instructions of the Viceroy. His Majesty having
taken notice of the establishment made by the English in the On arriving at the island you will deliver, at the hands of one of your officers, the said order to the English commander, and urge its immediate execution, in the manner indicated by his Majesty, in the letter of the Secretary of State of this department, dated Sept. 16 of the present year, and which has been handed to you. The English commander, it is presumed, will not hesitate to execute an order so positive, and you will, by agreement with Marshal José Raimundo Chicorro, land such force as you may think sufficient, to remain in garrison in the said island, under the command of Sergt. Rodrigues Silvano, whom I have appointed for that purpose, with the necessary artillery, ammunition, war material, and provisions. You will then take on board your vessel and the others the said English commander and all the British subjects that may be found there, with all their belongings, and carry them to that port, giving them the best treatment possible. But, as it may happen that the English commander, for reasons not known to us, may hesitate to evacuate the island promptly, and in good faith, the present expedition goes provided for such a contingency, in the manner prescribed in the orders of his Majesty, which I have already made known to you, and in virtue of which force must be employed to effect that which cannot be accomplished by reason and justice. (Here follow detailed instructions in regard to the vessels that make up the expedition, their commands, provisions, and material of war, in order that, in case of hesitation on the part of the English commander on the island, the Portuguese force may be in a condition "to strike a prompt and effective blow.") In a communication dated Dec. 20, 1782, the Viceroy of Brazil gives an account of the measures taken by him to carry out the royal order, and to establish a garrison in the island. This communication is addressed to the Court of Portugal, and forms one of the documents sent by Senhor Carvalho to the Chamber of Deputies. Next follows the royal order of King John of Portugal, dated Feb. 22, 1724, and addressed to the Captain General of Rio de Janeiro, in which the latter is directed to prevent the use of the Island of Trinidad in the slave trade. Its text is as follows: I, Dom John, by grace of God King of Portugal and the Algares on both sides of the sea, Lord of Guinea, &c., hereby make known to you, Ayres de Saldanha de Albuquerque, Governor and Captain General of the Captaincy of Rio de Janeiro, that, in view of what has been imparted to me by the Viceroy and Captain General on land and sea of the State of Brazil, Vasco Friz Cesar de Menezes, in a letter dated May 31, of the past year, according to information given him by Franco Pereira Mendes, Governor ad interim of the factory of Ajuda, in regard to the fact that an English vessel had gone to land persons on the Island of Trinidad for the purpose of colonizing it, and afterward to Ilha Grande to sell their cargo, which expedition was not successful, by reason of the resistance offered by Capt. Joseph de Lenedo, and returning to the said port of Ajuda had landed said cargo, and afterward taken slaves on board a vessel of the company which is supposed to have gone to the coast of Brazil, and that, in colonizing the said Island of Trinidad, the English assert that the Duke of Tambre, who is now the person most interested in the Guinea Company, is very much concerned in the view that by introducing there many slaves it would be easier to pass them to Ilha Grande, and in order to prevent the damage that the introduction of said trade (slave trade) into the island would cause, I am pleased to order you, by resolution passed at a meeting of my Colonial Council, on Jan. 10 of the present year, to fortify the said island, and that there shall reside there officials whose duty it shall be to watch and impede said traffic, which, if the English succeed in establishing it, will be harmful, not only to Brazil, but to this Kingdom; and I advise you of the same, in order that you may understand and execute my royal pleasure. Ordered by the King,
through Joao Telles da Silva and Antonio Roiz DA Costa, members of his
Colonial Council, and executed in two copies. Copy made by Antonio de
Cobellos Pereira, in Lisbon. Feb. 22, 1724, by order of the Secretary,
André Lopes de Lauva. On the presentation of these documents in the Chamber of Deputies, a resolution was passed unanimously declaring the purpose of that body to aid the Government in all its efforts to support the right of Brazil to Trinidad, and the Senate had already on the previous day passed a similar resolution, without a dissenting voice, without waiting for the reception of such documents. New York Times Oct 31, 1895 pg. 5 BRAZIL AND TRINIDAD ISLAND. Telegraph Needs a Station and Cares Not About Owners. London, Oct. 20. - Sir John Pender, M. P., presiding at a meeting of the Directors of the Brazilian Submarine Telegraph Company to-day said that the position of the company in its dealings with the Brazilian Government was unsatisfactory. Brazil, he said, ought to have treated this pioneer company better, since it had helped to build up Brazilian trade by bringing the country into cable relations with the rest of the world. It was when they had found that Brazil would not deal fairly with them that they had tried to carry on traffic with the Argentine Republic. They had laid a cable across the Andes jointly with the West Brazilian Company, and, with a view of preventing Brazil from interfering with that traffic, they had looked out for a fresh station, and had pitched upon the Island of Trinidad, which was not occupied, and was an excellent station. Brazil, he said, was now trying to make the matter a political question, but the company would not object to Brazil possessing the island if she permitted the telegraph company to use it as a telegraph station. Trinidad as a Cable
Station. SOUTHERN DIPLOMATS
OVERJOYED. SOUTHERAN DIPLOMATS
OVERJOYED - None of Them, However, Is Willing WASHINGTON, Dec. 17.-The diplomatic representatives of American republics in Washington were highly elated over the President's message, and nearly all of them cabled copious extracts of the document to their respective Governments. Ever since the Corinto affair they had been somewhat despondent over the supposed indisposition of the United States to resist foreign aggressions on the American Continent, but to-day they could not find language adequate to express their admiration for President Cleveland's forcible utterances, particularly in regard to the possible resort to other competitions than those "in the arts of peace." None of the Ministers or Chargés d'Affaires, however, consented to speak authoritatively for their Governments in the absence of instructions, nor would any be led into a public interview on the subject. One who has had perhaps more experience in the international affairs of the United States than most of his colleagues in the Diplomatic Corps said that while he was gratified to see that the United States had finally taken a firm stand on the Monroe doctrine, it would be unwise to consider it established in the code of nations, and although he believed European nations would be compelled to recognize its force hereafter, it was not by any means sure that its effect could be made retroactive, as its application to the Venezuelan matter certainly would be. Aside from this, he hoped (and in this he believed all American republics would support the United States) that England would be forced by war, if necessary, to give up the territory she had stolen from Venezuela, and he trusted that Congress would authorize the Executive to furnish arms and men to drive out the 40,000 squatters referred to by Lord Salisbury. Another representative of a Government that has a dispute with Great Britain as to a matter of land grabbing, differing only in degree from that of Venezuela, declared that if the United States was sincere in this matter and supported President Cleveland's suggestion for a boundary commission beyond England's influence, it would result in that greatest desideratum, an alliance both for peace and war of the most progressive American republics. The boundary questions in Alaska, he said, could then be as quickly settled as that in Venezuela, and the rapid encroachments of Belize on both Mexico and Guatemala would be terminated and the title to the territory of Brazil now claimed by French and British Guiana would be determined. With the bulldozing power of Great Britain nullified, he believed her commercial supremacy would disappear, and that trade would flow on north and south lines instead of east and west. Another of the South American representatives was disposed, in view of the attitude of the United States in past years, and the peculiar political conditions now existing in this country, to await the sober second thought of the people in regard to the message. He thought he should like to hear what Senator Sherman (the new Chairman of Foreign Relations) said about the readiness of the United States to go to war about Venezuela, where its interests were so small, compared with what they were presumed to be In Nicaragua and Cuba. His opinion was that Great Britain would not recede behind the Schomburgk line in the British Guiana claim, and that the United States would not resort to force in the attempt to compel her to do so. He thought, however, that Lord Salisbury would very promptly concede the remainder of the Venezuelan contention, including control of the Orinoco's mouth, and that the United States would secure Venezuela's acquiescence in that boundary. THE MONROE DOCTRINE. How It Was Expressed
by Its Author In a pamphlet entitled "The Monroe Doctrine; Its Origin and Meaning," prepared by John Bassett Moore, Professor of International Law at Columbia College, may be found all the passages in President Monroe's messages that have been cited as containing the expression of his doctrine. At the beginning of Mr. Moore's pamphlet are the two following extracts, numbered respectively I and II. I. Paragraph 7, message of Dec. 2, 1823. II. "With the movements in this hemisphere we are of necessity more immediately connected, and by causes which must be obvious to all enlightened and impartial observers. The political system of the allied powers is essentially different in this respect from that of America. This difference proceeds from that which exists in their respective Governments. And to the defense o our own, which has been achieved by the loss of much blood and treasure, and matured by the wisdom of their most enlightened citizens and under which we have enjoyed unexampled felicity, this whole Nation is devoted. We owe, it, therefore, to candor and to the amicable relations existing - between the United ' States and those powers to declare that we should consider any attempt on their part to extend their system to any portion of this hemisphere as dangerous to our peace and safety. With the existing colonies or dependencies of any European power we have not interfered and shall not interfere. But with the Governments who have declared their independence and maintained It, and whose independence we have, on. great consideration and just principles, acknowledged, we could not view any interposition for the purpose of oppressing them or controlling In any other manner their destiny, by any European power, in any other light than as the manifestation of an unfriendly disposition toward the United States. * * * "Our policy in regard to Europe, which was adopted at an early stage of the wars which have so long agitated that quarter of the globe, nevertheless remains the same, which is, not to interfere in the internal concerns of any of its powers; to consider the Government de facto as the legitimate Government for us; to cultivate friendly relations with it, and to preserve those relations by a frank, firm, and manly policy, meeting in all instances the just claims of every dower, submitting to injuries from none. "But in regard to these continents, circumstances are eminently and conspicuously different. It is impossible that the allied powers should extend their political system to any portion of either continent without endangering our peace and happiness, nor can any one believe that our southern brethren, if left to themselves, would adopt it of their own accord. It is equally impossible, therefore, that we should behold such Interposition in any form with indifference." Paragraphs 48 and
40, Message of Dec. 2, 1823. It will be observed that the above two passages, which are sometimes printed together as if they formed one continuous passage and were intended to convey one idea, are widely separated in President Monroe's message. In reality they relate to two different subjects. BRAZIL'S DEMAND FROM
BRITAIN BRAZIL'S DEMAND FROM BRITAIN Trinidad Must be
Restored or Diplomatic BUENOS AYRES, Jan. 20. - A dispatch to the Prensa from Rio Janeiro says that Dr. de Carvalho, Brazilian Minister of Foreign Affairs, will demand from Great Britain the immediate restitution of the Island of Trinidad, which was recently occupied by her for the alleged purpose of making it a landing station for a cable, but which Brazil claims as her territory. If the demand shall be refused, the relations between the two powers will probably be ruptured. ARGENTINE AND BRITAIN ARGENTINE AND BRITAIN Concession for Cable
Landing Canceled FALKLAND ISLANDS IN CONTROVERSY An Alliance with
Brazil to Defend the REFUSAL TO ARBITRATE TRINIDAD AFFAIR Denial that There
Is a Demand for Buenos Ayres, Jan,
21. - The Argentine Government has canceled the concession This action, it is understood, is taken in concert with Brazil, and has direct bearing upon the Trinidad Island dispute. Argentina denies England's right to the Falkland Islands and will join Brazil in resisting English claims to those islands and to Trinidad. London, Jan. 21.
- The Brazilian Legation here denies the story printed by the Prensa The Prensa stated that in the event of the demand being refused, diplomatic relations between Brazil and Great Britain would be probably ruptured. It was stated at the Consulate that, although Brazil declines to arbitrate the question of the ownership of the island, the negotiations to decide the question would be continued. Washington, Jan. 21. - The cabled announcement that Lord Salisbury's note presented to the Government at Rio de Janeiro demanded that Brazil should accept arbitration to decide the ownership of the Island of Trinidad before Feb. 12, in default of which the island should be considered as belonging to Great Britain, without further appeal, has caused serious comment here, which has not been diminished by the further statement that Brazil had definitely refused the proposal, and demanded that Great Britain should immediately restore the island to Brazilian control. Nor has the situation been rendered less acute by the intelligence conveyed in a United Press cable dispatch from Buenos Ayres, announcing that Argentine Government had canceled the English Cable Company's concessions and had made common cause with Brazil. In official circles deep significance is attached to the concerted action of the two largest South American republics in directly antagonizing British claims to American possessions. Minster Mendonça of Brazil spent half an hour by special appointment with Secretary Olney at the State Department yesterday afternoon, and it is suspected that the interview related to the decisive stand Brazil had taken in regard to Lord Salisbury's note. The Brazilian view of the matter is that to expect them to arbitrate the ownership of Trinidad would be as reasonable as to ask the United States to arbitrate the possession of Block Island, if England should suddenly occupy it on the ground that the United States had not hitherto made a good use of it. Or, as another example, that the United States would tamely submit to England's establishing a colony on an uninhabited Florida key under the British flag, because it was a desirable cable station, and fit for nothing else. A naval officer who is intrusted with the duty of keeping account of the submarine cables of the world explained the Buenos Ayres dispatches to-day as follows: "An English company holds an exclusive concession for coastwise cables in Brazil, the concession having about twenty years more to run. Sir John Pender, the cable king, several years ago determined to secure telegraphic connection between his great systems and the Pacific coast of South America, which is a lucrative field for telegraphic enterprise. To that end he entered into negotiations with all the South American countries for concessions, being successful in almost every country except in Brazil, where he was antagonized by the English company, which, under its exclusive right, operates all the lines from the Amazon to the Rio Plata. "He asked Brazil for the use of the Island of Trinidad as an intermediate station, but the English company in Brazil opposed this, and defeated it through the very fact that Trinidad was Brazilian, and therefore included in its own absolute concession. Sir John Pender went ahead, however, with his negotiations with other countries until a sufficient time had elapsed for an English warship to go secretly to Trinidad and land there a number of Sir John Pender's employes. "The English flag was raised, the cable company's operatives were left in possession, and the warship steamed away again. The only inhabitants of Trinidad today are Sir John Pender's men, taken there by the English Government. "The concession secured from the Argentine Government, which was especially favorable to that country, provided for the construction of a cable connecting with the company's main line on the African coast and proceeding thence to Trinidad, the new port of La Plata, the Falkland Islands, and so around to Chile, the Argentine Government giving the right only for the landing at La Plata." It is learned from a member of the Diplomatic Corps who has the confidence of the South American representatives, that Argentine's action in canceling the concession is due to President Cleveland's special Monroe doctrine message, and is inspired by the hope that the United States will recognise the right of Argentina to the Falkland is1ands, which were forcibly taken by Great Britain with the acquiescence of the United States subsequent to the Monroe doctrine's enunciation, The islands were owned and settled by Spain, and thus became part of the Argentine Republic. Argentina vigorously
protested when they were seized by England, and in a proclamation declared
that though Argentina was unable to resist the powerful force of England.
it continued to firmly adhere to its claim to the rightful ownership of
the territory. Under these circumstances Argentina Jan, 15 informed the
cable Company that it It is intimated that a specially accredited Minister from Buenos Ayres will soon come to the United States to endeavor to reopen the dispute as to the ownership of the Falkland Islands, in view of the stand taken by President Cleveland on the Venezuelan boundary dispute. President Cleveland in his first annual message to Congress in 1885, referring to this question, said: "The Argentine Government has revived the long-dormant question of the Falkland Islands by claiming from the United States indemnity for their loss, attributed to the action of the commander of the sloop of war Lexington in breaking up a practical colony on those islands in 1831, and their subsequent occupation by Great Britain. In view of the ample justification for the act of the Lexington, and the derelict condition of the islands before and after their alleged occupation by Argentine colonists, this Government considers the claim as wholly groundless." Friends of the Argentine Government, however, claim that this referred wholly to claims which the Argentine authorities were then pressing against this country, and as these have now been definitely abandoned, for amicable reasons, they believe that the United States will not disregard the proofs of ownership which can now be presented, as they are similar in all respects to those of Brazil and Venezuela, which have been espoused by Secretary Olney. BRAZIL AND ARGENTINA. BRAZIL AND ARGENTINA. The announcement that the Brazilian and Argentine Republics have agreed to act in concert in resisting the British claims to the Island of Trinidad, 561 miles off the coast of Brazil, on the one hand, and to the Falkland Islands, 350 miles from the coast of Argentina, on the other, is not an unexpected outcome of the existing situation. The making of it, however, makes it worth while to explain upon how very different a footing the claim of Brazil to Trinidad stands from that of Argentina to the Falkland Islands. The claim of Brazil to Trinidad is complete and perfect. The claim of Great Britain is entitled to no consideration whatever. The British seizure of the island was a mere act of power, founded upon the convenience of a British promoter of submarine telegraphs, and with no justification whatever. After the seizure was made the Brazilian Government remonstrated and set a trap for the British Ministry, into which it promptly fell. By setting forth the nature and antiquity of the Brazilian claim to the island as the inheritor of Portugal, it induced the British Government to state its own claim, which was that a British force took possession of the island in 1700 and found no "evidence of Portuguese possession." Having thus elicited a statement of the British claim, Senhor CARVALHO proceeded to destroy it by declaring that "the title of 1700, invoked by Lord SALISBURY, is refuted equally by anterior and by subsequent facts," and by citing the order of the British Admiralty in 1784 for the evacuation of the island by the British force and its surrender to Portugal as as the rightfuI owner The case in favor
of Brazil and against Great Britain is thus put beyond question. It will be seen that
the Argentine claim to the Falkland Islands is of no more validity than
the British claim to Trinidad. It will be seen also that it is not only
incompatible with, but opposed to, the Brazilian claim. The Brazilian
claim is that a title obtained by right of discovery and recognized by
other nations does not lapse by the mere omission to BRAZIL'S DENIAL OF
TROUBLE BRAZIL'S DENIAL OF TROUBLE Cruiser Benjamin
Constant Is Not to LONDON, Jan. 23 - The Brazilian Legation here has received a cable dispatch from the Government at Rio Janeiro denying officially that there is any trouble between Brazil and Great Britain or between Brazil and Italy. The dispatch also says that the voyage of the Brazilian cruiser Benjamin Constant has no reference whatsoever to the Island of Trinidad. New York Times Jan 24, 1896; pg. 9 TRINIDAD'S PRINCE AT HIS WORK Grand Chancellor
de la Boissiere Tells How M. le Comte de la Boissiere, Grand Chancellor of the Principalities of Trinidad, held in one hand a silver-headed stick, a gold-headed umbrella, a bag of alligator skin marked with his monogram in silver under a coronet, and a rolled shawl the colors of which were those of the Campbell plaid; his other hand held the knob of the door of the Chancellery. The bag, the stick, and the umbrella fell. He caught the shawl. "How could you
guess the precise moment at which you would not be a second "Serious, isn't it?" "Serious! Come
with me in my coupé. I haven't a moment to lose. In January last
year British troops disembarked at Trinidad and took possession of the
principality's M. le Comte de la
Boissiere looked at the reporter with a triumphant air, which the "The only authority that has fulfilled the 'sine qua non' condition of effective occupation is his Serene Highness Prince James I., my august sovereign. He has not only taken possession and made effective occupation of the Island of Trinidad, he has officially notified of this act, twice, all the powers, and not one of them protested." "To him? " "Not one of them protested to him or to anybody else against his assumption of the territory. After the English invasion of the principality's territory I wrote an official protest and addressed it to all the powers. At the same time I requested the Government of the United States of North America to recognize the Principality of Trinidad as an independent State. "In acceding to this request, the Government of the United States of North America would have the advantage, while according once more its powerful aid to the cause of equity and of justice, to make everybody content." "What would be the immediate effects of such an act?" asked the reporter, anxiously. "First - To recognize the just claims of his Serene Highness Prince James I., my august sovereign " - M. le Comte de la Boissiere looked above the steel frame of his eyeglasses - "which are indisputable. "Second - To calm the legitimate apprehensions of Brazil, which understands the dangers, in case of war with England, of a strategic position so close to the coast of the republic. "Third - To give to the British Kingdom a solution of the problem, in conformity with England's aim to make a cable landing at Trinidad, for the principality will be glad to accord this privilege." " Did not the Brazilian Chamber refuse to submit this problem to arbitrators, on the ground that Trinidad is geographically a part of Brazilian territory?" asked the reporter. "The Island of Trinidad," said M. le Comte de la Boissiere sententiously, but with a delicate shrug of his broad shoulders, "is at a distance of 750 miles from the Brazilian coast - a three-day trip by steamboat - and if it 's not in territorial waters it is not where it should be to be unhesitatingly a part of the Brazilian territory. Brazil's territorial waters end at three miles from the coast; Trinidad is at a distance of 750 miles. What do you think of that margin? "Since Brazil has seen the United States taking the part of Venezuela. Brazil thinks of doing what Brazil may like. But the United States takes the part of Venezuela in demanding arbitration, and cannot sustain Brazil in refusing to accept arbitration." "What do you suggest?" asked the reporter. "That the United States use its good influence in causing the Brazilian Chamber to reconsider its former resolution not to submit to arbitration." "If the question be brought before a court of arbitration, are you sure that the judgment of the court will favor your august sovereign?" M. le Comte de la Boissiere placed his gloved hand on the reporter's shoulder, tapped it gently, and replied: "The Court of Arbitration could render no other decision. His Serene Highness, James I., alone has fulfilled the 'sine qua non' conditions formulated in the International Code." The two tall bays of the Grand Chancellor's coupé stopped abruptly in front of the Cortlandt Street ferry house, the Grand Chancellor stepped out lightly without waiting for the footman to assist him, waved his hand cordially, banged the door, and gave the imperative direction to his coachman: THE 'NEW-YORK TIMES. BRITAIN SURRENDERED
TRINIDAD. BRITAIN SURRENDERED TRINIDAD. Prompt Action of
the Government on WASHINGTON, Aug. 6 - The Brazilian legation to-day received official notice that the British Government had promptly yielded to the decision of the Portuguese Government and had recognized the ownership of the lsland of Trinidad by Brazil, and had surrendered it. Ever since the British took possession of the Island, with the intention of using it to gain further superiority in cable communication, there has been fear that some trouble might be brought about by the insistence of Brazil on its rights, and the aggressive determination of England to concede nothing. The promptness with which England has recognized the decision of the Portuguese Government is agreeably surprising to all who are anxious about the attitude of the British Government on the Venezuelan matter. CLIPPERTON ISLAND
SEIZURE. CLIPPERTON ISLAND SEIZURE. No News in Washington of the Alleged Action of Mexico. WASHINGTON, Jan.
1. - The story of the dispossession of a party of Americans from Clipperton
Island by a Mexican warship, as reported by an incoming steamer at San The law permits an American citizen to locate upon a guano island such as Clipperton solely for the purpose of taking off the guano, but It must be affirmatively shown that the island is not part of the territory of another nation at the time of location. As to Clipperton Island, therefore, it is simply a question as to the prior right of Mexico to title, and the impression here is that her title is as good as was that of Brazil to the Island of Trinidad, which was sought by the British for a cable station. It is recalled here that in two cases the United States Government relinquished islands lying in the Bay of Honduras to Mexico, under similar circumstances to those presented in this case, upon proof of Mexican title. HARDEN-HICKEY A SUICIDE. HARDEN-HICKEY A SUICIDE. EL PASO, Texas, Feb. 10. - "Baron" Harden-Hickey, better known as the "Prince of Trinidad," was found dead at the Pierson Hotel, in this city, to-day. Servants in the hotel discovered the body at noon. and the indications were that the Baron had died during the night from drugs taken with suicidal intent. He left a letter addressed to his wife, at Corona, Cal., in which he said that he was going to die. He was married to a daughter of John H. Flagler of New York, the Standard Oil man, in 1891. Many persons who knew "Baron" Harden-Hickey as the merry editor of Triboulet, in Paris, in 1883, will wonder whether, in taking his life, he followed the precepts laid down by himself in " Euthanasia." " Euthanasia " is a monologue on the cheerful art of committing suicide. In the early eighties "Baron" Harden-Hickey appeared on the boulevards of Paris, coming from no one knew where. He seemed to have money, and soon got a collection of boulevardiers together and with them founded Triboulet, which treated all comic subjects in a serious vein and all serious subjects in a comic vein. The journal seemed to prosper and the "Baron" made friends and money. By birth he was evidently an Irishman, but he spoke French like a native. In 1888 Triboulet
suddenly stopped publication and the boulevards of Paris knew "James I." set forth very gravely that, having married the daughter of the well-known American millionaire, John H. Flagler, he was much improved in the eyes of society, with almost unlimited means at hand. In a yachting cruise he had stumbled upon the Island of Trinidad, which lies about 700 miles off the coast of Brazil. Not only, he said, was the island uninhabited, but it was unclaimed by any power. He therefore took possession. and proposed to have a military dictatorship. Several Central American republics recognized him as monarch of the island, and ordered their European representatives to inscribe Trinidad on their cards. The "Baron" and his scheme seemed to interest New York as well as Paris for a while. In July and August, 1895, a great commotion was raised in Brazil from the discovery that the British ship Barracouta, on Jan. 3 of that year, had formally annexed the "principality" of the "Baron" to her Majesty's dominions. It appeared that the English had first taken possession of the island in 1700, but had since then allowed the claim to lapse. The seizure aroused some excitement in America, in the midst of which the "Baron" appealed to the United States to make his claim good. England simply wanted the island as an anchorage for a cable to South America. In January, 1896, the dispute between Brazil and England waxed hot and affairs seemed to be approaching a crisis. Brazil refused to arbitrate. But above the dispute of nations was heard the cry of the "Baron" appealing for recognition as James I. All became quiet when England decided that she didn't want the island after all. |
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