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I have now to acquaint your Excellency that, having followed the enemy's squadron to the fifth degree of North latitude beyond the line, until, by capture and dispersion, their convoy was so reduced that only thirteen vessels out of seventy remained with the ships of war, and as the latter were evidently steering for Lisbon, and were too strong to be attacked with success by this ship alone for the remainder of the Brazilian squadron had separated in the chase I judged it advantageous for the interests of His Imperial Majesty's service, to discontinue the pursuit, and to proceed, with all possible despatch, to Maranham, where I arrived on the 26th ultimo.
As the property left with the Provisional Government of Maranham had been used for the benefit of that province, and as no part of it had ever been repaid, I determined that those to whom it was due should not, at least, be defrauded of that portion of their claims, or of a reasonable compromise thereof; and therefore I addressed to the interim-president the following letter:
I therefore apprised the Minister of Marine, that the only course circumstances would permit me to pursue though not perfectly regular would be to dispose of them and remit to the Government in specie the amount realised; as, in case of my departure from Maranham, they were certain to be improperly appropriated.
Roque to the northern extremity of South America, has been eaten away by the ocean. If this be so, the Paranahyba and the rivers to the northwest of it, in the province of Maranham, were formerly tributaries of the Amazons; and all that we know thus far of their geological character goes to prove that this was actually the case.
A still worse disaster was that the salt provisions shipped at Maranham were reported bad, mercantile ingenuity having resorted to the device of placing good meat at the top and bottom of the barrels, whilst the middle, being composed of unsound articles, had tainted the whole, thereby rendering it not only unpalatable but positively dangerous to health.
Maranham, 13th March,1825. Since I had the honour of writing to your Excellency, Pedro José de Costa Barros, who arrived from Cear
In passing the Azores, we overtook the brig Aurora, which left Maranham ten days before the Piranga, cleared out for Gibraltar under Brazilian colours. She was now steering direct for Lisbon under a Portuguese ensign, in company with a Portuguese schooner; this circumstance clearly shewing the kind of intercourse carried on between Brazil and the mother country by connivance of the authorities.
Edinburgh, Oct. 1, 1825. I have this day been favoured with your letter containing a copy of a portaria dated June 27th, wherein His Imperial Majesty, through his Minister of Marine, directs my immediate return from Maranham to Rio de Janeiro, leaving only the small vessels there; which order you will observe I had anticipated on the 20th of May, when I left the Imperial brig-of-war Cacique and the schooner Maria in that port.
I remonstrated that, on our arrival at Maranham, the city and province were, and ever had been, in possession of Portugal that the Portuguese had by the ordinary capitulations of war delivered up both to an armed Brazilian force without question and that, by a previous decree of the Emperor, no less than by the customary usages of war, all enemy's property fell to the captors.
With the capture of Maranham alone, however, Lord Cochrane was not satisfied. Without a day's delay, he despatched a Portuguese brig which he had seized in the river and christened by its name, under Captain Grenfell, to follow at Par
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