Among international matters mention is made of the death of Ambassador
Nabuco and of the eloquent mark of distinction shown his memory by the
United States, “associating itself with us in our
[Page 116]
mourning,” in the transfer of his body in
one of the powerful men-of-war of the American Navy to its final resting
place on Brazilian soil.
Allusion is made to the recent treaties concluded by this country with
Uruguay and Peru, each of which has now been duly ratified by the
signatories, thus ending for Brazil any further question of substantial
importance respecting the location of her borders.
The three parcel-post conventions, respectively with France, the United
States, and Germany, were submitted to congress for ratification—that
with France last year and the remaining two in April last at the special
session—but are still awaiting its action, which now should not be
expected before August or September, next.
The naturalization convention signed on August 23, 1906, at the Pan
American Conference by Brazil, the United States, and other powers, was
approved by Brazil in October, 1909, but, it is stated, will not be
promulgated until approved by the other Governments represented at the
conference. The one concluded for the same purpose between Brazil and
the United States alone was promulgated by this country on March 10,
last.
None of the 23 arbitration treaties or conventions mentioned as concluded
by Brazil have been ratified here, with the exception of the one with
Chile and the one with Argentine in 1906. That concluded with the United
States at Washington in January, 1909, has been the inspiration and
model of the numerous subsequent accords.
It is understood that drafts have been prepared by Brazil of a code of
public international law and another of private international law for
presentation to the International Conference of Jurisconsults which is
to meet at Rio de Janeiro, after repeated postponements, on May 22,
1911. The work was intrusted to a judge of the Brazilian supreme federal
tribunal, Dr. Epitacio Pessoa, who is regarded as one of the ablest
members of his profession in Brazil.
In addition to the parcel-post conventions mentioned and the numerous
arbitration conventions, there also awaited the ratification of congress
at its opening this month specified acts of the Pan American Conference
of 1906; the convention of August 23, of that year, relative to patents,
trade-marks, and copyright, as well as four resolutions of the
conference.
[Inclosure
1.—Translation.]
Extracts from the message addressed by the
President of Brazil to the National Congress upon the occasion of its
opening on May 3, 1910.
To the members of the national
congress:
With an immediate view to agriculture I established the ministry of
agriculture, industry, and commerce, having requisitioned from the
State of Sao Paulo the cooperation and proved competence of its men
for this service of such promising results.
In deference to an ancient aspiration of the country, the Government
instituted industrial education throughout the whole Republic, and
the shops of these new institutions are already frequented by
hundreds of scholars. The Government also commenced to care for
agricultural education, having promoted, as it should, the
cultivation of new crops, and put into execution a more vast plan
tending to the exploration of our mines, which are richer than those
of countries which base the fundaments of their prosperity on this
industry.
The four-year term which is about to end realizes, in relation to
railways, the aspirations which arose in the early days of our
national existence and which, with honor
[Page 117]
to the clear foresight of our ancestors, bear
witness to the spirit of fidelity and perseverance which has
presided over the formation of the progress of our country.
The Central [Railway] of Brazil has reached the banks of the Sao
Francisco River, the point our first statesmen had in view when they
decreed the great road.
Within a short time the federal capital will be connected with the
southern boundary by the Sao Paulo-Rio Grande [Railway], and in
contact with the friendly nations which surround us there; the other
line, that of Matto Grosso, which will facilitate our relations with
the frontier countries on the southwest, is well under way; and the
Government, having given a strong impulse to lines in the interior,
having authorized the electrification of some of them, thus
utilizing our waterfalls, continues interested in the development of
those international lines which must contribute greatly to the
stimulation of commercial intercourse and to strengthen the ties of
friendship with the sister Republics.
Our ancient boundary questions were finally resolved, and to-day the
country knows definitely all of the extension of its territory. The
country well knows that this great work is due to the Minister Rio
Branco, who, rectifying our frontiers, bringing together American
peoples and interesting high spirits of the Old World in the
evolution of Brazil, has become the mark of the lasting gratefulness
of our country.
Spontaneous immigration shows statistics in excess of two-thirds over
the former periods of subsidized immigration. While attracting the
foreign workman and surrounding him with comfort, the Government
could not be indifferent to the deplorable situation of the
populations of the North in their affliction by drought, and for
this reason it gave a permanent and systematic organization to the
work destined to attenuate their position. There have already been
taken steps looking toward the sanitation of the flats of Rio de
Janeiro by means of dredging the rivers which empty into the Bay of
Guanabara (Rio de Janeiro), work which will make available to stock
raising and agriculture an area of about 4,000 [square] kilometers
in the vicinity of this capital. The sanitary rehabilitation and
embellishment of Rio de Janeiro continues to preoccupy the
Government, which has undertaken the transformation of the Quinta da
Boa Vista, (old residence of the Emperor), and has resolved, among
other things, the question of electric illumination and the leasing
of the docks of the port of this capital.
The codification of the laws on process of the Federal capital, which
will abolish useless formulas and customs, thus simplifying, so far
as possible, the operation of justice and making the judgment of
cases more prompt, is nearly finished.
The questions of social, political, and administrative character
which have arisen in this period have received constitutional
solutions, and excepting the plurality of remuneration of public,
civil, and military employments which the Government prohibited—its
act, however, not having elicited the assent of the other powers—and
that of immunity from duties so prejudicial to the proper collection
of revenue and which also did not merit your support, all others
were generally well received, including that which formally
signalized the abstinence of the State from participation in
religious ceremonies, guaranteeing, nevertheless, the liberty of all
sects.
By practicing a policy of rigorous restriction of public expenses the
Government was enabled during the last few months to commence
remittances to Europe of funds which have attained a sum in excess
of £9,000,000. The Government being in this manner enabled to meet
the payments for the new squadron and the new equipment for the
army, as well as other obligations of a national character,
considered it to be its duty, availing itself of the authorization
conceded in a timely hour by the National Congress, to anticipate
the amortization of our foreign debt, suspended by the funding loan.
This measure, which relieved the difficulties imposed by that
agreement, produced a beneficial result in the country and
abroad.
The public credit thus consolidated, and the quotations of our
securities elevated, the operation of the conversion of interest
from 5 per cent to 4 per cent became necessary, and the Government
did not hesitate to undertake it. The part already realized in the
markets of London and Paris has given excellent results.
The economies of the budget were not sufficient, however, to meet the
expenditures of the anticipation, of the amortization of our foreign
debt; neither were the economies resulting from conversion
sufficient. Some other measure was necessary to reduce the annual
figure of our gold obligations, and this measure was the redemption
of the loan of 1879.
The prices of our products have remained high. The conversion office
has its deposits elevated during these months of government from
£5,000,000 to £17,267 764–6–4, and its emissions, from
Rs.93,000:000$ ($28,179,000) to Rs.276,284:229$124
($83,714,121).
With regard to the operations of foreign credit, I have, at all
opportunities, made it clear that the union would assume no
responsibility whatever in connection with
[Page 118]
loans contracted for by the States, as in its
opinion the excessive liberty at their disposition to undertake them
may become noxious to the general credit of Brazil.
foreign affairs.
Our foreign relations with other nations happily are maintained
unaltered. In order to strengthen these relations, to improve them,
removing the causes of misunderstanding and promoting the harmony
necessary to the competent collaboration in the work of American
progress, my Government has worked assiduously in continuing the
work of its predecessors. Flattering results have come to crown this
sincere and pertinaceous effort so far as concerns us individually
and separately.
At this moment no cloud darkens the international horizon of Brazil
and we have more than sufficient reason to compliment ourselves on
the celebration of the last pacts defining our frontier diplomatic
achievements of prolonged historical reflection and in which you so
intelligently and patriotically took a capital part.
Brazil knows to-day what it has of its own, which is much and will be
immensely more, thanks to the productive work of its sons, who are
ambitious to prove that they deserve such a rich patrimony, and to
the foreigners, whom the broad hospitality of this country will soon
turn into Brazilians.
But, if we feel ourselves tranquil and secure, the same does not
happen with some of the friendly and neighboring nations of the
Pacific, where questions which appeared to be on the road to
amicable settlement have suddenly taken on the abrupt character of a
conflict which will menace American peace.
While respecting the just susceptibilities of the sovereign
governments deeply interested in clearing grievances and obtaining
reciprocal reparations, Brazil formulates the most cordial wishes
for the prevalence of calmness and wisdom in the spirits agitated by
the noble passion of patriotism, and that once more the scourge of
war may be averted from our continent, above all in this year when
two of our enlightened sisters, Argentina and Chile, are preparing
to commemorate the first centennial of their political
emancipation.
Among the great collaborators of the Government in its international
policy we have to lament the loss of Ambassador Joaquin Nabuco, who
died at Washington on the 17th of January last. His death was not
bemoaned only by his fellow citizens. The Government of the United
States of America, associating itself with our mourning, saw fit to
give to the memory of the Brazilian ambassador significant testimony
of its affection, transporting the body in one of its powerful
warships of its fleet to rest on Brazilian soil.
In the dominion of our international policy the two most important
acts celebrated since the opening of the first session of the
present legislature are the treaty of September 8, 1909, between
this Republic and Peru, completing the demarcation of the frontiers
of the two countries and establishing general principles of commerce
and navigation in the basin of the Amazon, and the treaty of the
30th of October last, modifying our frontiers with the oriental
Republic of Uruguay on Lake Merim and the River Jaguarao and
establishing general principles of commerce and navigation in those
far-off districts.
After these two agreements we can say that we know what, definitely,
are our boundaries, what is the territorial extent of Brazil, and to
what limits the activity of the Brazilian people may be regularly
and pacifically exercised with its neighbors without further
possibility of disagreements and conflicts.
To-day we have our frontiers defined with all the countries which
surround us—with French Guiana, by the arbitral decision of December
1, 1900; with Dutch Guiana, by the treaty of May 5, 1904; with
British Guiana, by the arbitral decision of June 6, 1904; and with
the following Republics: Venezuela, by the treaty of May 5, 1859;
Colombia, of April 24, 1908; Ecuador, of May 6, 1904; Peru,
convention of October 23, 1851, modified in part by the accord of
February 11, 1874, and completed now by the treaty of September
8,1909; Bolivia, by the treaties of March 27, 1867, and of November
17, 1903, which only require ratifications or explanatory
declarations with reference to the mark of the Rio Verde (treaty of
1867) and with reference to the portion from the Abunan to the
slough Bahia (treaty of 1903); Paraguay, by the treaty of January 5,
1872; Argentina, by the arbitral decision of February 5, 1895, and
by the treaty of October 6, 1898; and with Uruguay, by the treaty of
October 12, 1852, described, so far as concerns the most southern
stretch of the frontier, by the accord of April 22, 1853, and
altered, with reference to Lake Merim and the River Jaguarao, by the
treaty of the 30th of October last.
Our last two boundary treaties, with Peru and Uruguay, merited your
approval at the extra session which has just ended and were ratified
by the contracting Governments. The exchange of ratifications of the
treaty between Brazil and Peru was
[Page 119]
effected the day before yesterday in this
city, so that this act is complete, lacking only the
promulgation.
The exchange of ratifications of the treaty with Uruguay should soon
be realized.
I hope that the small questions of form which have delayed the
signing of an act declaratory of the demarkation of the frontier
between Brazil and the Argentine Republic may soon be resolved.
For the small section not comprehended in the demarkation, between
the confluence of the Quarahim and the extreme western end of the
island Brazileira, or island of Quarahim, we proposed a special
treaty or convention, if the matter can not be resolved by means of
a complementary and declaratory article.
The mixed commission for the demarkation of the frontier between
Brazil and Bolivia terminated its work in Matto Grosso, as well as
the location of the Rio Yerde, in the terms of the accord of
February 8, 1907. This year, as soon as the condition of the streams
permits, it will proceed to Amazonas to mark the boundaries from the
Madeira to the confluence of the Yaverija with the Alto Acre, as
this is the meeting point of the new Peru-Bolivian boundary
according to the protocol signed at La Paz on the 17th of September
last by the plenipotentiaries of Bolivia and Peru.
I am going to encourage the exchange of ratifications of the treaty
of commerce and navigation which we celebrated separately with each
of the Republics of Ecuador and Colombia, signed at Rio de Janeiro,
the first on May 10, 1907, and the second on August 21, 1909, both
having already received your approval. The legislative decrees
authorizing these exchanges bear, respectively, Nos. 2086 and 2247,
under the dates of August 10, 1909, and of the 27th of April
last.
The Brazil-Peruvian accord, signed at Lima on April 15, 1908, for the
navigation of the Rio Japura, or Caqueta, was approved by the
national congress and sanctioned by the legislative decree No. 2098,
of the 14th of September last, which approved it.
I trust that the conclusion of the treaties of commerce and
navigation with Bolivia and Chile may not be delayed The first of
these is becoming more and more urgent on account of its being an
obligation assumed in the boundary treaty of November 17, 1903.
In a message of July 13, 1907, there was submitted to your decision a
convention to determine the status of naturalized citizens who again
take up their residence in the country of their origin, this
agreement being signed on August 23, 1906, at the Third Pan American
Conference; and in another message, of May 22, 1908, the convention
which, for the same purpose, we signed at Rio de Janeiro on April 27
of this year with the United States of America, was also recommended
to you. The first was sanctioned by decree No. 2115, of October 8,
1909, but its promulgation was effected only after the said
convention was approved by the other Governments represented at the
conference; the second was sanctioned by decree No. 2116, of
September 8, 1909, and, after the exchange of ratifications in this
city on the 28th of February, was promulgated by decree No. 7899 of
the 10th of March last.
There were signed in this city the following postal conventions:
- 1.
- With France, on June 3, 1909, for the exchange of parcels
without declared value.
- 2.
- With the United States of America, on March 26 last, for
the exchange of parcels.
- 3.
- With Germany, on the 20th of April last, for the same
purpose.
The first was submitted to your examination and decision in a message
of November 17, 1909, and the last two in a message of the 23d of
April last. In the other three contracting countries the agreements
of this nature do not require legislative approval.
In messages of June 11, September 8, November 23, and December 24 I
submitted to your approval several treaties and conventions of
general arbitration concluded by Brazil with different Governments
of America, Europe, and Asia. The following are the agreements of
this nature which we have celebrated:
- 1.
- Treaty with Chile, of May 18, 1899 (exchange of
ratifications on Mar. 17, 1906).
- 2.
- Treaty with Argentina, of September 7, 1905 (ratifications
exchanged on Dec. 5, 1908).
- 3.
- Convention with the United States of America, on January
23, 1909.
- 4.
- Convention with Portugal, on March 25, 1909.
- 5.
- Convention with France, on April 7, 1909.
- 6.
- With Spain, on April 8, 1909.
- 7.
- With Mexico, on April 11, 1909.
- 8.
- With Honduras, on April 26, 1909.
- 9.
- With Venezuela, on April 30, 1909.
- 10.
- With Panama, on May 1, 1909.
- 11.
- With Ecuador, on May 13, 1909.
- 12.
- With Costa Rica, on May 18, 1909.
- 13.
- With Cuba, on June 10, 1909.
- 14.
- With Great Britain, on June 18, 1909.
- 15.
- Treaty with Bolivia, on June 25, 1909.
- 16.
- Convention with Nicaragua, on June 28, 1909.
- 17.
- With Norway, on July 13, 1909.
- 18.
- With China, on August 3, 1909.
- 19.
- With Salvador, on September 3, 1909.
- 20.
- Treaty with Peru, on December 7, 1909.
- 21.
- With Sweden, on December 14, 1909.
- 22.
- With Haiti, on April 25, 1910.
- 23.
- With the Dominican Republic, on April 28, 1910
All of the treaties and conventions from Nos. 3 to 20 have already
been submitted to your examination. Other agreements of the same
nature are being negotiated.
The Brazil-Bolivian Arbitral Tribunal, which held its sessions in
this city under the presidency of the Nonce Apostolique, terminated
its labors on the 3d of November last. It began on May 20, 1905, and
interrupted its session on May 20, 1906, resuming them again on
November 3, 1908. During the first of these periods it was
principally occupied with its organization and the study and
examination of reclamations presented; during the second, it judged
all of these reclamations.
The Brazil-Peruvian Arbitral Tribunal continues its sessions here,
also under the presidency of the Nonce Apostolique. If there be no
new postponement it should terminate its labors on July 31.
The International Conference of Jurisconsults, which was to meet this
year at Rio de Janeiro, was postponed to May 21, 1911. It will be
composed, as you know, of delegates from the American Republics and
will be called upon to organize a code of public international law
and another of private international law.
Brazil was, and continues to be, represented at the International
Conference of Maritime Law at Brussels. It also sent representatives
to the following congresses and conferences: Third International
Congress of History and Music, in Vienna (May 25 to June 2, 1909);
Fourth International Lacticinium Congress, at Budapest (June 1909);
Second International Congress charged, with determining the
nomenclature of the causes of death, in Paris (June 1 to 3, 1909);
Seventeenth International Irrigation Congress, at Spokane (August 9
to 14, 1909); Second International Congress for the Protection of
Infants, Budapest (August 28, 1909); Fifth International Congress of
the Resistance of Materials, in Copenhagen (September, 1909); and
the International Medical Congress, Budapest.
With the presidential message of November 16 of last year there were
remitted to you:
- 1.
- The convention of August 23, 1906, relative to patents and
inventions, industrial models and designs, trade-marks and
copyrights.
- 2.
- The resolution of August 7, 1906, reorganizing the
international office of the American Republics.
- 3.
- The resolution of August 23, 1906, with reference to the
Pan American Railway.
- 4.
- The resolution of August 13, 1906, recommending the
creation of special dependent sections of the foreign office
and specifying their functions.
- 5.
- The resolution of August 23, 1906, recommending the
celebration of an international American conference which
should adopt efficient measures for the benefit of products
of coffee.
All of these international acts are awaiting legislative action.
The following foreign adhesions to acts to which Brazil is a party
were communicated to us:
- 1.
- Of the Empire of Ethiopia to the Universal Postal
Convention; decree No. 7,441, of June 24, 1909.
- 2.
- Of the Colony of Surinam to the agreements of Rome of May
26, 1906, relative to letters and boxes with declared value
and the mode of collection; decree No. 7,624, of October 21,
1909.
- 3.
- Of Servia to the additional act of Brussels modifying the
international convention of March 20, 1883, for the
protection of industrial property; decree No. 7,840, of
January 27, 1909.
