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prosecuted. It will be necessary, however, that you should proceed with great caution, and you will take care to collect and transmit accurate descriptions of the Vessels and Persons who may be suspected of being engaged in the Slave-trade, on reasonable grounds, though there may not be sufficient Evidence to warrant proceedings against them. I have, &c.

H. E. Gen. Sir George Don, G. C. B.

SIR,

BATHURST.

(Enclosure 2.)-R. W. Huy, Esq. to Joseph Planta, Jun. Esq. Downing-Street, June 15, 1826. WITH reference to my Communication of the 20th ultimo, I have received the directions of Earl Bathurst to transmit to you, enclosed, a Copy of the Draft of a Proclamation, which His Lordship proposes to instruct the Lieutenant-Governor of Gibraltar to promulgate in that Garrison, for the purpose of making known the penalties which are denounced by Law against all Persons who shall infringe the provisions of the Slave Abolition Acts; and I am to desire, that you will lay this Paper before Mr. Secretary Canning for his information.

Joseph Planta, Jun. Esq.

I am, &c.

R. W. HAY.

(Enclosure 2, A.)—Draft of Proclamation to be issued by the Lieut.Governor of Gibraltar.

WHEREAS it hath been represented to us, that certain Ships and Vessels owned by the Subjects of Foreign States in amity with His Majesty, are suspected to have entered the Bay of Gibraltar, and the Roadstead and Anchorage Ground of Gibraltar, for the purpose of fitting out, or completing their outfit for Voyages undertaken by them for the purpose of carrying on the Trade in Slaves on the Coast of Africa; now, We, being desirous to the utmost of our power to prevent all such illegal practices, do hereby warn all his Majesty's Subjects within the said Garrison and Territory of Gibraltar, and the Port, Roastead, and Anchorage Ground thereof, that any Person or Persons who shall be engaged in the fitting out, manning, navigating, equipping, dispatching, use, or employment, letting, or taking to freight, or on hire; or who shall contract for the fitting out, manning, navigating, equipping, dispatching, using, employing, letting, or taking to freight, or on hire, any Ship, Vessel, or Boat, in order to accomplish any of the objects or contracts declared unlawful by the Statute made and enacted by His Majesty, with the advice and consent of the Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, in the 5th Year of His Majesty's Reign, for the Abolition of the Slavetrade; or who shall lend or advance, or become security for the loan or advance, or who shall contract for the lending or advancing, or for the loan or advance of money, goods, or effects, employed, or to be employed, in accomplishing any of the illegal objects or

contracts aforesaid; or who shall become guarantee and security, or contract for the becoming guarantee or security, for Agents employed, or to be employed in accomplishing any such illegal objects or contracts; or who shall in any other manner engage, or contract to engage, directly or indirectly therein; or who shall ship, tranship, lade, receive, or put on board, or contract for the shipping, transhipping, lading, receiving, or putting on board, of any Ship, Vessel, or Boat, money, goods, or effects to be employed in accomplishing any of the said illegal objects or contracts, shall and will incur and become subject and liable to all and singular the pains, penalties, and forfeitures, provided in and by the said Statute, for the punishment of Persons guilty of all or any of the Offences aforesaid; and We do hereby strictly command and enjoin all Judges and Officers, Civil and Military, and all other His Majesty's Subjects within the Town and Garrison of Gibraltar, that they and each of them, in their respective Places, be, to the utmost of their respective ability, assisting in the prevention or detection of all such Offences as aforesaid, as they will answer the contrary at their peril; and We do hereby warn and strictly command and enjoin all His Majesty's Subjects within the said Garrison and Territory, that they do abstain from all such illegal practices, and from aiding, comforting, and abetting any Person or Persons engaged therein, on pain of His Majesty's highest displeasure, and of incurring the several penalties in and by the said Act of Parliament in that behalf provided.

SIR,

(Enclosure 3.)—R. W. Hay, Esq. to Joseph Planta, Jun. Esq. Downing-Street, September 16, 1826. WITH reference to your Letters of the 10th and 16th of May last, on the subject of certain Vessels which the British Consul at Cadiz was induced to believe had completed their equipments at Gibraltar for the African Slave-trade, I am directed by Earl Bathurst to enclose, for the information of Mr. Secretary Canning, Copies of a Despatch, and its Enclosures, received from Sir George Don, in answer to one which was addressed to him in consequence of those Communications; and I am to request, that you will submit to Mr. Canning, Earl Bathurst's opinion, that, as His Majesty's Minister at Madrid, in his Answer to Sir George Don's enquiries, states, that he had no other information of the Slave-trade being carried on through assistance obtained at Gibraltar, than what he derived from Mr. Consul Brackenbury, it does not appear, according to the Correspondence which had taken place, from time to time, on this subject, between the Consul and Sir George Don, Copies of which were transmitted to you in my Letter of the 20th May last, that it can be justly imputed to the latter, that he had allowed Vessels fitted out at Cadiz for the Slave-trade to be completed at Gibraltar, the report of which prevented His Majesty's Mini

ster at Madrid from entering into discussions on that subject with the Duke of Infantado.

Joseph Planta, Jun. Esq.

I am, &c.
R. W. HAY.

(Enclosure 3, A.)-The Lieut.-Governor of Gibraltar to Earl Bathurst. MY LORD, Gibraltar, July 20, 1826.

I HAVE had the honour of receiving your Lordship's Despatch of the 21st May last, enclosing Copies of Two Communications from the Foreign Office, of the 10th and 16th of the same month, on the subject of certain Vessels, which it is alleged had completed their equipment at this Place for the African Slave-trade, and desiring that I would lose no time in transmitting to your Lordship whatever Correspondence may have passed, not hitherto transmitted, between me and Mr. Brackenbury, His Majesty's Consul at Cadiz, in regard to the Vessels in question, or to any others which may be presumed to have come to the Place for a similar purpose; and also instructing me to apply to His Majesty's Minister at Madrid, for the purpose of learning whether he is in possession of any facts or general information upon this subject, beyond the statements which he has received from Mr. Brackenbury.

I have now the honour to acquaint your Lordship, that Copies of the whole of the Correspondence which passed between myself and Mr. Brackenbury, respecting the Vessels alluded to, together with such information as I had obtained on the subject, accompanied my Communications to your Lordship of the 27th July, 1825, 12th February, and 2d March, 1826. I find, however, that two Letters on the same subject, which were addressed to the Earl of Chatham by Mr. Brackenbury in July, 1824, were not transmitted to your Lordship; and I beg, therefore, to enclose Copies of them herewith, and likewise Copies of the Answers which were given to them by his Lordship's directions.

By the annexed Copy of a Letter, which I have received from His Majesty's Minister at Madrid, your Lordship will observe, that he is in possession of no information on the subject of Vessels fitting out for the Slave-trade at this Port, beyond the statements received from Mr. Brackenbury. I have, &c.

The Right Hon. Earl Bathurst, K.G.

GEORGE DON, General and Lieut.-Governor.

(Enclosure 3, B.)-Mr. Consul Brackenbury to the Governor of Gibraltar. MY LORD, British Consulate, Cadiz, July 12, 1824.

I THINK it right to acquaint your Excellency, that two Spanish Vessels are fitted out in this Port, in such a manner as to leave no doubt that it is the intention of the Owners to employ them in the Slave-trade.

Facts so notorious as these cannot be unknown to the Spanish Authorities here; and the objects of the Owners of these Vessels have been facilitated by granting them Licences to carry Guns. The particulars of the Vessels, with their reputed destinations, I have the honour to enclose; one of which, the Alerta, sailed yesterday for Gibraltar; I understand that four more Vessels are about to be taken up here for the same inhuman Traffick.

I have apprized Mr. Secretary Canning of these occurrences, as well as His Excellency Sir William à Court; and I do myself the honour to submit them likewise to your Excellency, that they may be made known to the Officers of the British Navy touching at Gibraltar, in case any of them should be ordered to the Coast of Africa.

I have no reason to believe that there is any other Capital than that of Spaniards in this odious Enterprize.

I have, &c.

J. M. BRACKENBURY. Spanish Schooner Bella Dolores, Don Antonio Guerrero, Master, burthen 170 tons, James Tinto, Owner, bound to St. Augustin, in the Island of Madagascar.

Brig Alerta, Don Antonio Echeverria, Master, burthen 290 tons, Miguel Azopardo, Owner, bound to Gibraltar and Havannah.

H. E. General the Earl of Chatham, K.G.

J. M. BRACKENBURY.

(Enclosure 3, C.)-Colonel Chapman to Mr. Consul Brackenbury. Gibraltar, July 20, 1824.

SIR, HIS EXCELLENCY the Governor has desired me to acknowledge the receipt of your Letter of the 12th instant, on the subject of two Spanish Vessels fitting out in the Port of Cadiz, in such a manner as to induce you to believe that it is the intention of the Owners to employ them in the Slave-trade, and that one of them (the Alerta) had sailed for this Place. In reply thereto, his Lordship has directed me to express his thanks for the zeal you have manifested, and that, should any British Men-of-War touch at this Place for the Coast of Africa, his Lordship will avail himself of your suggestion, to give them the information contained in your Letter. I have, &c. S. R. CHAPMAN.

J. M. Brackenbury, Esq.

(Enclosure 3, D.)-Mr. Consul Brackenbury to the Gov. of Gibraltar. MY LORD, British Consulate, Cadiz, July 17, 1824.

I HAD to address your Excellency on the 5th and 12th instant, since which time one of the Spanish Vessels alluded to in my Letter, namely, the Alerta, has sailed from the Port, and is now in Gibraltar Bay, taking in such a Cargo as demonstrates too plainly the inhuman Trade in which the Owner means to employ her.

Amongst other things, the Brig has been taking in iron, which has been cut into bars of short lengths, a strong presumptive proof that the investment is for the Coast of Africa. It is my duty, my Lord, to represent to your Excellency such facts connected with this disgraceful Enterprize as have come to my knowledge, facts upon which your Excellency might place every reliance, if they were not susceptible of corroboration at the seat of your own Government: namely, that the Spanish Brig Alerta, Antonio Echeverria, Master, is now completing her Cargo, for the Coast of Africa, in the Port of Gibraltar; that she is nominally consigned to an English House there, but is virtually under the direction of the Owner, Miguel Azopardo.

As the nominal Consignees are young men of respectability, it is most earnestly to be hoped that they are ignorant of the enormity of their conduct, in suffering themselves to be instrumental to the detestable project of the Owner, by being purchasers for him, in an English Settlement, of the Articles which he wants for the outfit of a Slave-ship, though cloaked by him under false, and, perhaps, plausible pretences; what is, however, known to me at Cadiz, and to others, ought to be known to the nominal Consignees at Gibraltar; and I conceive, too, that your Excellency should likewise know that Miguel Azopardo, the Owner of the Alerta, is himself at Gibraltar, directing every purchase, and superintending every other preparation of his Brig, the Alerta, for a Slave-voyage to the Coast of Africa.

I have, &c.

H. E. General the Earl of Chatham, K. G.

J. M. BRACKENBURY.

(Enclosure 3, È.)—Colonel Chapman to Mr. Consul Brackenbury. SIR, Gibraltar, July 28, 1824. YOUR Letter to His Excellency the Governor, of the 17th instant, relative to the Spanish Brig Alerta, mentioned also in your former one of the 5th instant, has been received, and his Lordship has directed me to repeat his assurance of giving the necessary information, should any of His Majesty's Vessels, bound for the Coast of Africa, touch at this Place, in their way for that destination. I have, &c. J. M. Brackenbury, Esq.

S. R. CHAPMAN.

(Enclosure 3, F.)-The Right Hon. F. Lamb to the Lieut.-Governor of

SIR,

Gibraltar.

Madrid, July 7, 1826. WITH reference to your Letter of the 28th ultimo, I have to acquaint you, that I am in possession of no information on the subject of Vessels fitting out for the Slave-trade, beyond the Statements received from Mr. Brackenbury. Should any facts come to my knowledge, I shall lose no time in communicating them to you.

H. E. General Sir George Don, K. C. B.

I have, &c.

F. LAMB

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