of His Majesty the King of Italy, went into execution. Mr. Joaquim Nabuco, accredited as envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary, on special mission to the august arbiter, already has had the honor of delivering, in defense of our cause, the first of the three memorials authorized by the compromise. The demarcation of our boundaries with the Argentine Republic is almost concluded, in accordance with the terms of the agreement of February 5, 1895, and of the treaty of October 6, 1898. Our former relations of such cordial friendship with Bolivia have suffered a not insignificant strain since the time when the Government of that sister Republic, unable to maintain its authority in the Acre region, inhabited exclusively, as you know, by Brazilians who, many years previously, had established themselves there in good faith, saw fit to deliver it over to a foreign syndicate upon whom it conferred powers almost sovereign. That concession, as dangerous for the neighboring nations as for Bolivia itself, encountered general disapproval in South America. As the most immediately interested, Brazil, already in the time of my illustrious predecessor, protested against the contract to which I refer, and entered upon the policy of reprisals, prohibiting the free transit by the Amazon of merchandise between Bolivia and abroad. Neither that protest nor the counsels of friendship produced at that time the desired effect in La Paz, and, far from rescinding the contract or making the hopedfor modifications therein, the Bolivian Government concluded an especial arrangement for the purpose of hurrying the entrance of the syndicate into the possession of the territory. When I assumed the government that was the situation, and in addition the inhabitants of the Acre, who had again proclaimed their independence, were masters of the whole country, excepting Puerto Acre, of which they did not get possession until the end of January. Although since January negotiations have been initiated by us for the purpose of removing amicably the cause of the disorders and complications which have had their seat of action in the Acre ever since the time when for the first time the Bolivian authorities penetrated thither, in 1899, yet the Government of La Paz has nevertheless thought proper that its President and his minister of war should march against that territory at the head of armed forces with the end in view of crushing its inhabitants and then establishing the agents of the syndicate. I thereupon resolved to intervene to protect our fellow-citizens and prevent further and unnecessary bloodshed, whereupon we could, with the proper intent, arrive in a short time at a definite arrangement, honorable and satisfactory for both parties. From the 18th of January on, instructions were sent to our legation in La Paz to the effect that in spite of the very broad interpretation which, as a favor to Bolivia, the Brazilian Government had given through so many years to article 2 of the treaty of 1867, it would now defend as its boundary the parallel of 10° 20' south, which is the dividing line indicated by both the letter and the spirit of that pact. After the departure of the expeditions against the Acreans our legation was instructed to repeat that declaration and to inform the Bolivian Government that Brazil was going to take military occupation of a part of the contested territory until the settlement of the dispute by diplomatic channels. Upon the Bolivian Government agreeing to this we promptly reestablished freedom of transit for its foreign commerce by Brazilian waters. Shortly after this the syndicate, by reason of the indemnity which we paid it, renounced the concession which had been made it, eliminating thus this disturbing element. The negotiations for the modus vivendi necessitated by the new situation proceeded and there resulted the preliminary agreement signed at La Paz on March 21. In accordance with its terms the troops of General Olympie da Silveira already occupy the contested territory to the east of the Purus between the so-called Cunha Gomes line and the parallel of 10° 20′, and a Brazilian detachment of troops is already supposed to have passed to the south of that parallel to take up their position between the armed Acreans and the Bolivian forces. These latter, commanded by General Pando, are supposed to have stopped at the river Orton, sending their advanced posts as far as the Abunan. If in the period of four months, counting from March 21, the two Governments can not arrive at a direct and definite agreement, the said Brazilian detachment of troops will return to the north of that parallel and the negotiations will commence for a treaty of arbitration. It is much to be regretted that the discussion of the definite agreement has been interrupted when it had scarcely begun, in January, and that the period of four months from March 21 will, as a matter of fact, be reduced to two, since the Bolivian minister on special mission can not be expected to arrive here until the end of this month. I sincerely wish and hope that the two Republics may be able to arrive at an understanding, settling, as soon as possible, in the most honorable manner these irritating and too much prolonged questions. Brazil does not desire an agreement in opposition to the interests of Bolivia, and holds in the highest appreciation her friendship. To the Peruvian Government we have announced, very willingly, since January that we will examine, with attention, the claims which in due time they may be pleased to make upon the subject of the territories now in dispute between Brazil and Bolivia. Near the mouth of the Amonea, in Alte Jurua, conflicts have unhappily taken place between the Brazilians there for a long period of time established and a detachment of Peruvian troops whom the prefect of Iquitos had sent there in October. With the imperfections of the maps in existence it is, however, imposssble to say whether that point is within the Brazilian boundary or in territory indisputably Peruvian, as our neighbors allege. I am convinced that the questions relative to these incidents on the frontier will be solved by the two Governments in the most amicable spirit. FREE NAVIGATION OF THE AMAZON RIVER. Mr. Bryan to Mr. Hay. No. 441.] LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, SIR: I have the honor to inclose herewith a copy and translation of an official order of the minister of finance, recently promulgated, by which he closes or attempts to close the free navigation of the Amazon, subjecting all goods in transit to Brazilian export and import duties. I have, etc., CHARLES PAGE BRYAN. [Inclosure.-Translation.] Extract from Diario Official. Ministry of finance. Federal capital. Circular No. 43, August 8, 1902. Let the honorable heads of departments of finance take notice for their information, that by means of telegrams of this date sent to the collecting agents of the federal treasury in the States of Para and Amazonas, this ministry has provided for the keeping of the free navigation of the Amazon for import and export in suspense, except as applied to merchants who have cargoes in ships which have left the ports of loading before this same date, collecting, except in this case, the duties they shall owe. No. 444.] Mr. Bryan to Mr. Hay. LEGATION OF THE UNITED States. Petropolis, August 19, 1902. SIR: In reference to my No. 441, of August 14, 1902, I have the honor to report that the minister of finance on August 13, 1902, modified and corrected the official order closing the navigation of the Amazon by confining its effect to importation and exportation to and from the single country of Bolivia. I inclose a copy and translation of the corrected order. I have, etc., CHARLES PAGE BRYAN. [Inclosure.-Translation.] MINISTRY OF FINANCE. Circular No. 43, ministry of finance, federal capital, August 8, 1902, is republished on account of having been previously printed with mistakes. I hereby notify the heads of departments of finance, for their information, that the ministry has, through telegrams of this date to the collecting agents of the federal treasury in the States of Para and Amazonas, suspended the free navigation of the Amazon for importation and exportation to and from Bolivia, except for that merchandise in vessels that left the ports of shipment before this same date, all other except the above paying the regular duties. JOAQUIM MURLINHO. No. 464.] Mr. Bryan to Mr. Hay. LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, SIR: Referring to my Nos. 441 and 444 of the 14th and 19th of August, respectively, relating to the ministerial decree which, in order to injure Bolivian commerce, imposes transit duties, I have the honor to report that the Governments of France and Germany have instructed their ministers to protest against this proceeding on Brazil's part. The British minister, also under telegraphic instructions, has called on me several times to inquire whether I had been directed to notify the foreign office here of displeasure on our part at this Government's unwarranted action. The French minister informs me that the minister for foreign affairs has reasserted to him with emphasis, both verbally and in a long note, his belief in the right of Brazil to impose transit duties. My colleagues, however, agree with me in the belief that Baron Rio Branco, an experienced diplomat who will become minister for foreign affairs on November 15, will not sustain his predecessor's contentions or attitude with regard to the commercial rights of Bolivia and of other nations. It is our separate conviction that long before January, when the rubber shipments begin, the new Government of Brazil will have solved the pending difficulties with regard to free transit on the Amazon River. Nevertheless, as I may be in error in this opinion, I deem the matter of sufficient importance to lay the facts before the Department as they present themselves to me, so that my successor may be thoroughly informed regarding every phase of this question, and so that the Department understandingly may be prepared to take such action in the premises as it may deem proper. I have, etc., CHARLES PAGE BRYAN. Mr. Bryan to Mr. Hay. No. 466.] LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, SIR: Continuing the subject of my No. 464, of October 31, I have the honor to report that the French minister informs me that the legal adviser of the foreign office at Paris, in a lengthy opinion, has sustained his position regarding the illegality of the imposition of duties. on merchandise in transit by the Amazon. I have, etc., CHARLES PAGE BRYAN. Mr. Hay to Mr. Seeger. No. 302.] DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, December 9, 1902. SIR: The Department has given consideration to Mr. Bryan's Nos. 441, 444, 464, and 466, of the respective dates of August 14, August 19, October 31, and November 7, 1902. No. 441 transmits a copy of an official order of the minister of finance by which he attempts to close the free navigation of the Amazon by subjecting all goods in transit to Brazilian export and import duties. No. 444 reports a correction of the order so as to make it apply only to goods going to and coming from Bolivia. No. 464 reports the protests of the French and German ministers against the order. No. 466 reports the French Government's approval of its minister's protest. The Department notes by Mr. Bryan's No. 464 that it is the common belief of the diplomatic corps that the order would be rescinded by Baron Rio Branco upon his assumption of the office of minister for foreign affairs. It is hoped that by the time this instruction reaches you this expected action will have been taken. If not, you will make proper and temperate remonstrance against the measure, which, if persisted in, could not fail to injure United States commerce with the Amazon region. I am, etc., Mr. Seeger to Mr. Hay. JOHN HAY. LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, SIR: The optimistic prediction of Mr. Bryan, that "long before January, when the rubber shipments begin, the new Government of Brazil will have solved the pending difficulties with regard to free transit on the Amazon River," is far from being fulfilled. I have, consequently, in obedience to your No. 302, of December 9, made "proper and temperate remonstrance" against Brazil's obstruction to the commerce on the Amazon. Inclosed are copies of memoranda on the subject, shown me by Doctor Pinilla, and of my note of to-day to the foreign office. I have, etc., EUGENE SEEGER, Consul-General in Charge of Legation. [Inclosure 1.-Translation.] Opinion on the question of transit by the Amazon, by Mr. Louis Renault, professor of international law of the faculty of Paris, member of the Hague conference, legal adviser of the minister of foreign affairs, etc. I am of the opinion that the remonstrance made by Mr. Decrais to the Brazilian Government is well founded. There can be no doubt that in the absence of constitutional provisions a State is free to regulate as it sees fit the passage across its territory or on its waters. We would have had no right to complain if Brazil, not having a commercial treaty with us, had subjected the transit on Brazilian waters to transit taxes. But this is not what she has done in the exercise of her sovereignty. She has by an act of legislation, even by her constitution, established free transit. We therefore confine ourselves to invoking against Brazil the rules which she herself has established and upon the upholding of which foreigners have a right to rely as long as they are not modified in accordance with legal forms. There would be no sort of security if a condition of things created by so solemn an act as the constitution could, by a simple ministerial decree, arbitrarily be modified to the detriment of the foreigners. That would be a genuine surprise which the governments charged with the protection of their own nationalities could not accept. L. RENAULT. [Inclosure 2.] (This was presented to the London foreign office by the Bolivian minister at that capital.) Memorandum on the suspension by Brazil of free transit to Bolivia through the Amazon. The treaty of 1867, Article 6, declares that "the communication between the two States by the common frontier shall be free and the transit by it exempt from all national and municipal duties." Article 28: "All the conditions of this treaty which do not refer to frontiers shall be in force for the term of six years, after which they shall continue in force until one of the contracting parties shall notify the other of his desire to put an end to them and they will cease to exist twelve months after the date of this notification." Article 29: "The contracting parties undertake to negotiate before the expiration of the fixed term of six years a new treaty with the alterations and provisions which experience and the interests of both countries may render necessary." The treaty of 1867 was denounced by Brazil on the 6th of September, 1884, and if there had existed any right on the part of Brazil to suspend the free transit of merchandise along the natural waterways, a right which Bolivia had exercised ab initio, it would have been done at the expiration of the agreed term, i. e., on the 6th of September, 1885; but it was not done, and the transit of Bolivian exports down the river Madera, the only commercial route through Brazil from Bolivia existing at that time, continued as before. Negotiations went on, and a new treaty was concluded on the 31st of July, 1896, and ratified by the Bolivian Government on the 15th of August of the same year, but the Brazilian Government kept it in suspense. The treaty of 1896 was finally withdrawn from Congress by the Brazilian Government in July, 1902. On the 19th of July, 1902, the Brazilian minister of foreign affairs, under pretext of this act of withdrawal, declared that "in future no free transit along the Amazon would be granted to produce coming from its affluents." Soon after he explained that this resolution referred only to Bolivian traffic. At the same time he declared that "article 6 of the protocol of October 30, 1899, remained without effect." This article reads as follows: "As long as there is no Brazilian consul at Puerto Alonso the custom-houses of Manaos and Belem shall accept as valid, from the 15th of November next, all customs notes and other documents issued by the administrator of the custom-house of Puerto Alonso, provided they are accompanied by a certificate from the captain of the ship which receives the cargo." Now, the Brazilian minister, in a recent explanation given to the Bolivian minister at Rio, propounded that "the Federal Government, in anticipation of a favorable vote of Congress accepting the treaty of 1896, had consented on the 23d of October, 1898, as an act of friendship toward Bolivia, to the recognition of the custom-house of Puerto Alonso, the commerce of that region receiving the provisional enjoyment of the advantage which would be granted in a permanent and definite form when the said treaty should be approved and come into operation." This theory is utterly utenable because the protocol of October 13, 1899, says: "Article 4. Until the mixed commission shall have completed the definite demarcation of the frontier, there shall be adopted as provisional boundary a line which, departing from the Madera at latitude 10° 20', runs to latitude 70° 11' 48", fixed by Captain Lieutenant Augusto da Cunha Gomes at the point of the source of the river Javary." And article 5: "The Bolivian custom-house of Acre shall continue established at Puerto Alonso until by the demarcation of the frontier in its neighborhood |