Manoel Francisco Correia to Clinton Wright, May 30, 1871

Mr. Correia to Mr. Wright

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of the note which Mr. Robert Clinton Wright, chargé d’affaires of the United States, addressed to me on the 4th instant.

The senhor chargé d’affaires refers to the extract from the dispatch of Mr. Hamilton Fish, dated 31st January last, which he delivered to me some days since, and in which his excellency refers to articles belonging to Paraguayans, to the Government of the United States, and to Messrs. A. Duffield and Washburn, left by the latter at the American legation at Asuncion when he retired thence.

Mr. Wright observes that from the dispatch referred to, it appears that the Brazilian forces, upon entering that capital, took possession of the said legation, and that the enemy’s property was seized by the said forces. The senhor chargé d’affaires states that his government makes no claim for any property not belonging to it or to American citizens; it appeals, nevertheless, to the magnanimity of the imperial government in favor of the Paraguayans who deposited their effects in the American legation. The Government of the United States, adds Mr. Wright, goes farther, and submits to that of Brazil the following question: Whether the Paraguayan property deposited in the said legation was not in analogous circumstances to that of the enemy’s property on board of a neutral ship at sea, which is not subject to seizure, under a principle admitted by Brazil. As regards the property of the United States and that of Messrs. Duffield and Washburn, the American Government, in any event, expects reparation.

The question being placed in this form, the senhor chargé d’affaires concludes by requesting that I will communicate to him the views of the imperial government in reference to the property deposited at the American legation, which, for the most part, belongs to poor and helpless women. That if the government of Brazil, according to the appeal which is confidently made to its magnanimity by that of the United States, shall entertain favorably the claims of the unfortunate Paraguayan women, the proofs of the losses sustained by them, which it may be possible to obtain, would be submitted to its consideration.

With this résumé of the note of the senhor chargé d’affaires, I proceed to give him due answer, which will be preceded by a narrative of what occurred in connection with this matter.

Mr. Kirkland, commander of the steamer “Wasp,” addressed, on the 25th February, 1869, to the commander-in-chief of the Brazilian forces operating in Paraguay, a dispatch which closes as follows: “I have also to call your excellency’s attention to the tact that, since the occupation of the city of Asuncion by the Brazilian army, the house which was occupied by the legation of the United States has been visited and sundry boxes, some of which were sealed, opened by force, and their contents taken away; besides this, the official archives of the legation have been removed. I request that your excellency will issue orders to those under your command, that they shall deliver to me, on board this vessel, all property belonging to the legation of the United States which may be in their possession.” On the 7th March the Brazilian general received another dispatch, in which Mr. Kirkland makes the following communication: “I have the honor to inform you of my departure, and to notify you that I have named Commander Frank MacNevins as agent of the United States pro tempore at this port, to receive and keep, until they shall be claimed by the proper authorities, all property and papers, of whatsoever kind or nature they may be, belonging to the Government of the United States, and which may be delivered to him by you in virtue of my request of the 25th February, or which may come into his hands through any other channel.” In a dispatch of the 8th March, Marshal Guilherme Xavier de Souya, after stating that he could not admit the claim of the commander of the “Wasp,” as this was a matter which belonged to the governments and their diplomatic agents, set forth the motives which obliged the Brazilian military authorities to take possession of the property found in the house No. 95 Justice street, where, it is stated, Mr. Washburn had lived.

This statement is indispensable to my answer, and therefore I must transcribe it here.

“The city of Asuncion was converted into a ‘peace forte’ by General Lopez, who, at the same time, obliged the unfortunate inhabitants, natives and foreigners, to retire to the interior, taking with them whatever they could carry.

“Many months after this forced emigration, and when the city was abandoned even by the Paraguayan forces which had garrisoned it, the allied armies, victorious in various battles, in December entered it.

“It is true that the Brazilian forces were the first that entered, and it is also true that they found many houses open, others without roofs. This took place on the 1st January, at night. The first care of the Brazilian colonel, Hemes Ernesto da Fonseca, commander of that brigade which preceded by a few days the body of the allied armies which marched by land, was to cover the interior line of the city, availing himself of the entrenchments of the enemy to distribute patrols to police the city, and to place guards in those houses which had the shields of the French and Italian consulates as well as in other buildings where he could see or might presume that they contained objects of value.

“One of the houses in which the latter precaution was taken was that of No. 95, Justice street, where, it is said, the senhor ex-minister, of the United States, Washburn, had lived. The motive of the precaution taken by the Brazilian military authority being known, it is proper to state the manner in which the articles found in the said house were taken possession of.

“The articles found in this house, says Marshal G. X, de Souya, in his above-cited dispatch, were inventoried and placed in security by a commission of officers from the military and civil department of the Brazilian army; named for this purpose by Marshal Marquis, of Caxias, all of which appears from the respective reports made in the most precise, authentic, and trustworthy manner.”

These reports were published at pages 107 to 109 of the report of this Department for the year 1869, and in them is stated the amount of jewels and other articles found at the said house. Some furniture was also found, and a box fastened with screws, which were already apparently injured, having on the top a label which stated that it contained the archives of the American legation. Neither externally nor internally did the said house indicate that it had been the habitation of the minister of the United States, who had retired months before the events which delivered Asuncion into the possession of the allies.

Furthermore, it did not appear natural, as the Brazilian general observed, that he should fail to take with him the archives of the legation, or to confide them to the care of the consular agents residing at Asuncion. And the circumstance of the American minister having occupied the house in reference was not of itself sufficient to determine the true origin of the deposits alluded to.

It may be added that with the withdrawal of Mr. Washburn from Paraguay, the privileges enjoyed by his residence ceased. “From the moment a public minister,” says H. Wheaton, Elements International Law, compiled by Dana, section 224, “enters the territory of the State to which he is sent, during the time of his residence, and until he leaves the country, he is entitled to an entire exemption from the local jurisdictions, both civil and criminal.” These weighty considerations, as well as the want of authority of Mr. Kirkland, gave rise to the refusal of the Brazilian general to deliver to that commander the articles found in the house which Mr. Washburn had occupied.

But, in the same dispatch in which the Brazilian general conveyed this refusal to Mr. Kirkland, he declared that the restoration should be made as soon as it should be proved that the articles referred to belonged to Mr. Washburn or to persons who had not served the cause of the enemy.

In taking possession of them, Brazilian authority had no other object than to place them in safety that they might be delivered in proper time to the legitimate owners. Of this purpose irrefragable testimony is borne by the fact that large sums of money were scrupulously delivered to the provisional government of Paraguay, which under constitutional right might have been considered as prize to the victor. The imperial government has therefore resolved, in accordance with its previous action, to deliver to the Government of the United States all the articles found at the house in which Mr. Washburn had resided, without making any distinction between those which belonged to American citizens and which belonged to Paraguayans. This resolution does away with the necessity of any discussion as to the analogy between enemy’s property deposited at the aforesaid house, and that which may be found on board a neutral vessel at sea. As a consequence of the said resolution, I shall ask the war department to issue the necessary order to deliver to the persons designated by the senhor chargé d’affaires, the articles taken possession of by the Brazilian military authorities which were found in the house, at the city of Asuncion, occupied by the American minister. The delivery will be made in conformity with the reports made upon the occasion of the taking possession of the property. I avail myself of the occasion to renew to Mr. Wright the assurances of my very distinguished consideration.