[APPENDIX.]
IN page 368 of this work, I have stated, that it was my intention to enquire into, and to make some observations on the present regulations relative to diamonds. These beautiful gems have been found in such abundance in Brazil, as to supply not only Europe, but Asia; as those of India are become extremely scarce, diamonds from Brazil have been often sent thither, and have usurped their name. The question we are at present about to examine is, how far it would be consistent with the interest of the Portuguese Government to permit the searching for diamonds, in the same way as for gold, under peculiar laws. The monopoly is ineffectual, because the diamonds are found in so many parts widely distant from each other, that it is impossible to prevent the searching for them. The attempt to preserve grounds known to contain these riches, by forming a distacamento, has not produced any good effect; and it is by no means improbable, that the best of these (supposed) preserved lands are already worked, therefore the soldiers are guarding the casket after the jewels have been taken away. How many places might be mentioned (out of the district of Cerro do Frio), where troops of negroes daily work! It has been stated, that government probably receive little more than a moiety of the gems found at their own expense; if so, it is certainly time to abandon a trade so exposed, or to change the system altogether. Is it the interest of Brazil to keep her enterprizing subjects in continual torture and fear respecting these precious gifts, which the bounteous hand of Providence has placed there? But indeed as his majesty’s subjects increase and become more enlightened, this severe monopoly will destroy itself and soon begin to give way to a wise and political government, which will prefer a rich and powerful population in the very heart of the colony to a few individuals. How happens it, that diamonds, in the hands of private persons, meet a more ready sale than those of government? Because they are better stones, and are offered in quantities more convenient for the purchasers: next, because they can be sold cheaper since they cost less. If diamonds were subject to pay a fifth, government would have such power as to enable them to command the market; and if they should become cheaper in Europe, the demand for them would become more general, therefore their price would not be likely to fall in Brazil; and, even if it did, is it not the blindest policy for the court to put such a yoke round the neck of her valuable subjects, who venture their lives in trackless deserts searching for mines, and exposing themselves to every danger? Would it have been possible for Portugal to colonize Brazil if there had been no gold mines to attract adventurers? To deny men the treasures with which nature has enriched the country, is to oppose one great check to its population; for the example of one adventurer becoming rich, is the means of inducing hundreds to follow him. Under the present system, there is so great a struggle between the temptation of becoming suddenly rich, and the fear of being ruined by detection, that when a man finds a diamond by accident, he knows not whether to appropriate it, or to surrender it to the government; even in the latter case, he has little prospect of reward, and runs the risk of being accused as a smuggler. Instances have not been uncommon of men having found diamonds, who have thrown them away[84] rather than involve themselves and their families in ruin, either by keeping them, or delivering them to government.
It has before been shewn, that Government are the greatest gainers by the diamonds which are sold clandestinely; and if individuals were allowed to trade in them, the state and the public would undoubtedly be benefited by it. For it is certain, that a Brazilian farmer or miner would prefer necessaries, such as iron utensils, clothing, &c. which add to his comforts and conveniences of life, to articles of ideal value, which in reality have come into his hands probably without difficulty or expense. Thus the peasantry would draw valuable produce from other countries in exchange for what cost them comparatively nothing, and, by enriching themselves, would augment the revenues of the state.
Is it not possible to make the diamonds liable to pay a fifth, either in kind or in value? In this case it is probable that there would be less smuggling: and that practice might be still more restrained, by something like the following regulation: every person finding diamonds should be obliged to register them; also, to take out a certificate authorising him to dispose of them in whatever manner he thinks proper. It would certainly add to their importance, to make them subject to a trivial duty[85], on being lawfully transferred from the buyer to the seller, by which means they would come into immediate circulation and represent real property: thus, after yielding a very small profit to each person through whose hands they passed, they would finally be exported; and, as long as diamonds continued an article of distinction, ornament, and elegance, Brazil would lay under tribute every court in the civilized world.
The Dutch were artful enough to poison the ears of the ministers of Portugal against the proposal of making diamonds a free trade, and assisted in the persecutions against those unfortunate sufferers who were detected in possessing them. But surely that narrow-minded and self-interested policy is now done away with; nor would it be credited in modern history, that the government of Brazil, for a trivial, pecuniary profit, should be the dupes of their own bank and a few interested strangers.
View of the State of Society among the Middling Classes, employed in Mining and Agriculture.