Benjamin Moran to João de Andrade Corvo, June 15, 1876

Mr. Moran to Mr. Corvo.

Sir: I have the honor to bring to your excellency’s notice the fact that in December, 1874, the civil governor of St. Michaels, in the Azores, demanded of and received from Mr. Ivens, the United States consular agent at that place, the sum of $13.50 United States gold currency, equal to 16,200 reis in insular money, for passports for nine destitute American seamen who were sent at that time from that port to Boston in the Portuguese bark “Amisade,” Captain Francisco José de Mello.

This item of expense was duly reported to the Government at Washington, in Mr. Ivens’s accounts, for aid to distressed American seamen in his district, but the Government disallowed the sum on the ground that no foreign government can rightfully require and charge for passports for distressed American seamen returning to the United States.

I am informed that at the port of Fayal, in the Azores, and also at Lisbon, whence thousands of “consul’s men” have been sent to their homes, no such charge has ever been made, for the reason that the law provides that safe-conducts of embarkation can be furnished to destitute persons free of charge. And this provision is both humane and just. It is to be found in article 3, section 2, of the general regulations of police, and is as follows: “For the ‘visé’ of a passport, as well as for the grant of the safe-conduct, travelers shall pay the sum mentioned in the table accompanying these regulations; excepting, however, destitute persons and mendicants.

As the practice of exacting such fees does not prevail in Lisbon or other ports of His Most Faithful Majesty’s dominions, both continental and ultramarine, I therefore have respectfully to request that His Majesty’s government may be pleased to institute inquiries into this case, and if it be found as represented, that his excellency the civil governor of St. Michaels may be instructed to make restitution to Mr. Ivens of the 16,200 reis paid as above described, and be also requested not to insist upon the collection of such fees on account of distressed American seamen.

The practice of His Majesty’s government in other ports in similar cases leads me to the conclusion that the civil governor of St. Michaels acted from a misapprehension in this instance; as I cannot for a moment believe that His Most Faithful Majesty’s government would authorize the demand of fees of the kind from distressed foreign seamen, who by wreck or otherwise may have been cast upon its shores destitute.

I regret the necessity which compels me to bring this case before your excellency, but as it unfortunately happens that not a few destitute American seamen are thrown upon Portuguese shores, a repetition of such demands must necessarily lead to a heavy tax upon consuls, and put both consuls and seamen to great inconvenience. It has been shown above that the laws of Portugal discountenance the collection of fees in such cases, and in view of the known humanity and justice of His Majesty’s government, I am confident that if the facts of this case shall he found to be as I have stated them, a result about which I entertain no doubt, my requests in the premises, that the fees exacted of Mr. Ivens may be returned, and the charge for such permits to be discontinued in St. Michaels, will meet with prompt and ready compliance.

I avail myself of this occasion to renew to your excellency the assurances of my highest consideration.