A history of the Brazil

by James Henderson

Access denied; and overhead up grew

Insuperable height of loftiest shade,

A woody theatre of stateliest view.”

With cautious steps we retraced our way, and the feelings which the wild and romantic nature of the scene inspired were heightened by the murmuring waters of the hidden cascades. The district of Tejuco is extensive, and belongs principally to one individual, the Conde d’Asceca.

The commerce of the Brazil has increased much since it was thrown open, particularly in British manufactures, as they are now generally used throughout the whole territory. That this augmentation of British commercial intercourse with that country, as well as the aggregate sum of the whole since its commencement, has been essentially disadvantageous to the merchants and manufacturers of England, reducing it into one account, is unquestionable. Suppose the shipments of all goods since the first, to a certain period, where a line could be drawn, were placed on one side at prime cost, and the returns for those shipments in produce, bills, or specie, placed on the other side, (without taking into view the occasional great losses sustained by the sale of the produce,) it would then be too clearly demonstrated, and exhibit by the comparison an actual loss, amounting to a very serious sum. The testimony of one or two merchants connected with this trade since its origin would suffice to show the immense sacrifices British property experienced soon after this new channel induced such large speculations through its medium, as well as the continued sacrifices that have been made at different periods since. Even the years 1819 and 1820, and especially what has passed of the present one, have been distinguished by considerable losses; and, if further corroboration were required, the innumerable failures in England caused solely by this deterioration of property might be adduced. I speak of the trade as a whole, allowing that a great many persons have done well in it, and some made fortunes, particularly the commission-merchants; but I mean to submit, that the advantages those individuals have derived will not bear the test of comparison with the losses sustained by others. The Brazilians, particularly at Rio, have acquired no inconsiderable gains out of the unfortunate circumstances detailed; besides, they enjoy advantages which they are little sensible of, in the supply of British capital, which, at the metropolis, where the longest credits are given, alone extends to more than one million sterling, arising from the too great liberality of the merchants resident there, in granting credits with goods. The number of English establishments of all kinds at Rio amounts to about sixty, and a spirit of competition consequently existing, the native merchants have had the address to turn it greatly to their advantage. For instance, if they could purchase goods from one house at four months credit, they would give the preference to another that would give them six, and so on; till credits have extended, in some instances, to nine, twelve, and even eighteen months, accumulating in their hands the prodigious sum mentioned, and which the Brazilian laws induce some few to take the unfair advantage of retaining as long as they can, and in some cases altogether. English property, in this state of jeopardy, may be computed at two hundred thousand pounds, resulting from the tedious and imperfect mode of judicature. A Portuguese dealer, having exhausted the patience of the English merchant, the latter obtains a summons from the English judge, Senhor Garces, for the former to appear before him within three audiences, (he holds two a week,) when it is at the option of the plaintiff, whether the defendant is put upon his oath or not. If he is put upon his juramente d’alma, and then swears he owes nothing, the cause must finally end; but if the plaintiff will not allow him to swear, he then probably denies altogether owing the money, or admits the account, but says he cannot at present pay, which produces the same delay. The plaintiff then cites him for a libello, and proceeds to prove the fairness of his demand, which the defendant opposes by counter declarations. Up to this point twelve months may be calculated as already consumed. The judge, convinced by the clear evidence of the plaintiff, gives a despatch in his favour, which the other immediately embargos, when a plea for additional time is set up, under the pretence of adducing some other evidence; and, after a further investigation, the judge gives a similar despatch to the first, which is a second time embargoed, and the cause is then removed to the Court of Relaçam, consisting of six or seven judges, three of whom must always attend. Similar delays occur in this court, when the decision of the English judge conservator is confirmed, which, however, is not final; the defendant can carry the case before the Conseil de Fazendes, a supreme authority, consisting of many members, from whose decision there is no appeal. The plaintiff, whose verdict gives him a power over the property only of the defendant, and not over his person, proceeds to take possession of his premises and effects, when, in some cases, I have been informed, he discovers that another person holds them, in virtue of a purchase which he pretends to have made, although the defendant is probably acting in the business as before. The plaintiff, in order to prove this fictitious sale, contemplates a delay of several years in another law process; he therefore submits to any terms that may be offered him.

An instance was related to me of a Brazilian who owed an English house eleven hundred pounds, and, being pressed for a settlement, he disputed the delivery of a quantity of crockery-ware, amounting to nine hundred pounds, but which, from their great bulk, and the circumstances attending his receipt of them, afforded ample proof of the justness of the charge. In the course of the law-process he demanded the production of the plaintiff’s books, in which case every leaf of each book is stamped, and pays a duty to government. The books afforded the clearest testimony of the sale and delivery. The defendant then put in a document, suggesting that the plaintiff might have two sets of books, and this might be a false one; upon this the defendant was ordered to produce his own books, for it is usual for this class of Brazilian dealers to keep a receiving-book, in which all goods are entered when delivered at their shops. He however evaded this order, by replying, that he kept no books, but wrote the receipt of all goods upon the back of the merchants’ invoices, and that he had never received the one in question. This subterfuge produced an immediate despatch in favour of the plaintiff, which the defendant may perhaps yet frustrate, by the dishonest proceedings mentioned. Hence, the laws appear to be rather a temptation to fraud than a preventive.

The appointment of an English judge conservator, who is indeed a respectable man, and disposed to act with promptitude and justice, appears to be perfectly nugatory in cases of importance; and, although his decisions may have some influence with the other courts, they are by no means final or effectual; and the same delay takes place, under such circumstances as have been described, as if this office did not exist. The privilege of having a judge, whose salary of £500 a year is paid out of the contribution fund, would appear to be conceded to the English, without its producing any adequate advantage to them.

From the universal taste for British manufactures, the Brazil presents a great and decidedly increasing field for their consumption; and, although the merchants cannot get rid of the tedious practice in the judicial proceedings, they may, by a system of caution, in some instances, avoid it; and they have already adopted the plan of taking bills from the Portuguese on delivery of goods, which is, at all events, an acknowledgement of the debt. It is still farther to be wished that the increasing demand for English goods would determine the merchants not to part with their commodities under the real value. Competition is, unfortunately, a great obstacle to any unanimity amongst them in this respect, otherwise the Brazilians would have no alternative but to take their merchandise at any fair profitable price that might be determined upon. At present the importations of British goods annually to the Brazil may be estimated at near three millions sterling, one half of which may be computed to arrive at Rio, from whence returns are made in bills, coffee, sugar, hides, &c. and some cotton. Orders are sent to Bahia, Pernambuco, and Maranham, to ship some part of the return, principally in that article, from thence, for which they send specie, or bills upon the treasuries of those places, received from the government for stores supplied. At present two or three English houses at Rio de Janeiro furnish the government with the great bulk of its military and naval stores; but, at different periods, demands resulting from this connexion have met with serious delays in the liquidation, and in cases where the treasury has been under positive engagements by bills, great inconvenience has been sustained, and the parties compelled at last to wait personally upon the King, who has given directions for the payment of those overstanding securities.

The British merchants also labour under some inconvenience, originating in the misconstruction of or non-compliance with the actual intent of the convention for regulating the levying of the fifteen per cent. duty upon that portion of English goods not embraced by the pauta, and which latter instrument is additionally and injuriously partial in its operations, not being a fair standard by which the real value of the article the duty is to be paid upon can be designated. The avowed object between the two governments in this arrangement is, that the British merchant shall pay a duty of fifteen per cent. upon the fair value of the thing imported; but the pauta enumerates a fixed value upon certain articles, without reference to the fluctuation of price, and the tide having uniformly of late years flowed downwards in this respect, goods have experienced a diminution from the average valuation of that instrument, consequently, the duty may amount to twenty-five or thirty per cent. in place of fifteen, upon their actual worth. But this is not the only objection to it as an inefficient medium for levying the duties. The pauta determines the value of certain goods at one, two, or three prices, at the same time that a great variety of qualities exist in the same commodity, which gradations of value are yearly increasing, by the introduction of mechanical power and other improvements into our manufactures. Some printed cottons are worth upwards of two shillings per yard, others nine-pence or one shilling, with intermediate qualities. Cambric muslins bear greater disproportions of quality, yet the duties are exacted upon goods of this kind, worth one shilling per yard, at the same rate as those bearing twice the value. At Rio, where more fine goods are used, they pay the same duty as the merchants of Bahia and Pernambuco, where more of the lower quality of the same articles are imported; and, in consequence, the merchants of the latter place have been entirely precluded, during the last eighteen months, from despatching through the custom-house printed cottons and muslins of a low price, as the valuation they hold in the pauta would have made the duty forty per cent. upon their real worth in lieu of fifteen per cent. Mr. Lempriere, the consul of Pernambuco, did not conceive it his duty to interfere in the matter; but it would appear that the captain-general and the judge of the custom-house, were either influenced by the diminution of customs collected, or by the representations of the merchants themselves, to accede to an arbitration. Messrs. Cockshott, Mitchel, and Todd, three very competent and highly-respectable merchants, were selected, on the part of the English, to meet three Portuguese merchants; and, in the month of January, 1820, during my stay at Pernambuco, the matter was, for the time being, amicably adjusted; but the nature of the pauta will ever present great difficulties, and can never embrace the intended equitable duty upon the imports. The same objections have been raised at Bahia and other places. The arrangement above alluded to did not long continue in operation, in consequence of not receiving the sanction of the Brazilian government. The difficulty is now greatly augmented by the continued depression in British manufactures. Printed cottons, rated in the pauta at seven milreas four hundred reas each piece, and upon which valuation the duty of fifteen per cent. must be paid, were not worth more than from three milreas two hundred reas to three milreas six hundred reas, in the Pernambuco market at the close of 1820. This produces a result so manifestly against the British merchant, that it must ultimately prove ruinous to him. Memorials have been presented to the Hon. Mr. Thornton, relative to these injurious consequences of the pauta, and the British merchants connected with the Brazil are in expectation that the attention of their government will be drawn to this important subject, when its wise and enlightened policy will no doubt obtain the desired relief.

There can be but one opinion that the convention, if it applied to imports generally, is the only just principle upon which this matter should rest, provided it were divested of the grievances just alluded to; for the accomplishment of which, the merchants of Bahia have been the first to present a memorial to the Brazilian court. It was understood, before I left Rio, that the measures which had been practised for the benefit of individuals, and not of the government, were ordered to be discontinued by his Majesty, as contrary to the letter and spirit of the convention. Having, however, referred to those practices, it may not be irrelevant to state one instance out of many that were communicated to me by the merchants at Rio de Janeiro. The obligations of the convention are, that the merchant shall give in an attested invoice of the value of the article, and if the government do not consider it a fair one, they have the option of taking the goods by paying ten per cent. upon the price. A merchant received a quantity of goods, which, had he despatched at the cost price, he would have sustained a serious loss, in consequence of the low ebb at which they then stood. In the course of twelve months, a demand arose for the article, and he gave in an invoice at the cost price to pay the duties upon. The administratador of the custom-house finding, (no doubt from his agents,) that he could obtain a good profit, informed the merchant that the ten per cent. in addition to the price given in, would be paid, and the goods kept; consequently the merchant was deprived of any advantage he might have received from running the risk of retaining the goods for so long a time, without mentioning the loss of interest; besides, in those cases it has happened, that the goods have been previously sold by sample to a dealer, who insists upon their delivery, or a pecuniary allowance. The merchant above-mentioned ascertained that the goods were actually despatched through the custom-house by the very invoice he presented, and the duty paid only upon the value he gave in; demonstrating that the government derived no benefit from those proceedings, but that they were the result of intrigue among inferior officers, for their individual gain. I cannot conclude this important subject, without strongly recommending to the British government the expediency of effecting, if possible, a change in the levying the duty of fifteen per cent. as far as the pauta applies, for it is obvious that an arrangement upon the principle of the convention can alone embrace the infinite gradations of value peculiar to every denomination of British manufactures sent to the Brazil.