BRAZIL (BAHIA). CONSULAR. No. 153. Consul Morgan to the Earl of Clarendon.-(Rec. April 13.) I HAVE the honour to transmit herewith to your Lordship translated extracts from the speech of the President of this Province on the opening of the Provincial Assembly on the 1st instant. Your Lordship will find in these extracts a confirmation of the facts I had the honour to communicate to you in my despatches of the 1st and 4th of January, of the complete cessation of the traffic, and that the present able President, Dr. João Mauricio Wanderley, is equally convinced of the barbarous system now practised of exporting slaves from this port to Rio de Janeiro, which, if permitted to be continued, will ultimately injure considerably the agricultural interests of Bahia. It is also satisfactory to observe that since the passing of the Imperial Decree No. 1,103 of the 28th September, 1853, no less than 136 emancipated Africans have received their tickets of freedom in this Province, and I have no doubt that the remainder, on serving their apprenticeship will eventually recover the rights of free men. I have, &c. The Earl of Clarendon. JOHN MORGAN, JUN. (Inclosure.)-Extracts from the Speech of the President of the Province of Bahia, addressed to the Provincial Legislative Assembly on the 1st of March, 1855. (Translation.) No disembarkation of slaves or any attempt at this crime has taken place, neither has there been the least suspicion. Of the slaves captured at times previous to the Law of the 4th September, 1850,* and who, distributed amongst private individuals, were under the management of the Judge of Orphans, have passed to that of the Solicitor-General, 252, of whom 136 obtained papers of freedom, which are in their possession, in accordance with the provisions of the Decree No. 1,103 of 28th of September, 1853, and the remaining 116 will obtain them if they appear comprehended in this latter disposition. The female slaves have had 124 children, who are under the care of the Solicitor-General, and are delivered to masters or to respectable families who look after them. That proportion who are nearing their majority come under the denomination of Brazilian citizens, being so by the fact of their birth. Of the slaves captured since the above-named Law, there exist • Vol. XXXIX. Page 1060. 374, all distributed amongst the public establishments or employed in the works of the Province. The injury arising from the want of labourers will be felt at no distant period, should the emigration of slaves be continued to the southern ports of the Empire, without it be substituted by some other means, or this barbarous traffic prohibited, which is but a repetition of the horrors that accompanied the old Traffic to the coast of Africa, while it tends to impoverish the Province. The duty of Rs. 100, levied on exportation is not sufficient to diminish the evil. During the last year 1,835 slaves were exported, namely, 583 taken away from the field; 836 from this city and its neighbouring towns and hamlets; and 416 without declaration from whence they came. To Rio de Janeiro alone 1,692 slaves were sent. In a few years where will our agriculture find the required supply of labour for those that are taken away from us? It is necessary that we should think of the future in order not to leave our successors an impoverished land which our ancestors left to us in a rich and progressing condition. I have tried to obtain a statistic of the product of the culture of the sugar cane, to furnish you with its details. From the returns, the number of the sugar mills in the province is 1,651; of these 253 are worked by water, 144 by steam, and 1,275 by animals. The number of labourers regularly employed in those mills are from 48,000 to 50,000 individuals, of which near 40,000 are slaves, and the remainder are free. The produce of those mills, one year with another, is 4,000,000 of arrobas of sugar, 200,000 to 300,000 arrobas of rapaduras, and 5,000,000 gallons of molasses. SIR, No. 160.-Circular to Her Majesty's Consuls in Brazil. Foreign Office, January 19, 1856. A CASE having occurred in which one of Her Majesty's Consuls in Brazil, actuated, I believe, by motives of benevolence, undertook to purchase and to assume the guardianship of three young slaves, I have to state to you that such a proceeding on the part of any British subject is contrary to the laws of England, and especially to the Statute 6 and 7 Vict., cap. 98, which absolutely forbids British subjects to own or hold slaves under any circumstances, and renders their so doing criminal, without regard to their motives or intentions, or even to the ultimate advantage which might accrue therefrom to such slaves. Iam, &c. Her Majesty's Consuls in Brazil. * Vol. XXXIII. Page 888. CLARENDON. No. 163.-Consul Morgan to the Earl of Clarendon.—(Rec. Mar. 10.) I HAVE the honour to report that the American schooner Mary E. Smith, which was the subject of Mr. Grattan's despatch to your Lordship on the 15th September last, accompanied by a memorandum furnished to him by the Collector of Customs at Boston, was cap tured on the 20th ultimo off St. Matthew's by the Imperial Brazilian cruizer Olinda, and brought into this port with 387 Bozal Africans. It appears the master of this slaver had previously, on the coast of Rio de Janeiro, attempted to effect a landing, but being repulsed by the police, came northward, determined at some point or other to carry out his nefarious resolution, for which purpose, feigning distress, he entered the Port of St. Matthew's, in the Province of Espirito Santo, about six degrees south of this city. From the vigilance then evinced on the landing of two of her Portuguese passengers, Manoel da Costa Bastos and João José Vianna, who no doubt are interested parties, it soon became clear to them that they were suspected, and an intention existed on the part of the authorities to capture the schooner in port; on which, hurrying on board, she soon stood out to sea, but in the short space of a few hours afterwards was captured by the above-mentioned cruizer. I never heard or saw a more distressing case of slave-trading than the one the Mary E. Smith has offered. With a capacity of only 122 tons, 500 human beings were crammed into her on the coast of Africa, of whom 133 had died previous to her capture, and subsequently, until her arrival in this port, 67 Africans expired from exhaustion consequent on starvation and disease, their bodies being eaten into by vermin. Of the remainder landed, 76 have been buried; and of the survivors, 109 are in the hospital suffering from the disease contracted on board. Such is the deplorable result of this inhuman traffic. But as a retributive act of justice the master and three seamen are likewise at present in the hospital, dangerously ill from the effects of disease caught from the unfortunate individuals whom they were instrumental in tearing away from their country. All the ship's papers were fortunately seized at the time the schooner was captured. Her crew is composed of Cranovich, an Austrian by birth, but a citizen of The United States, known well on this coast as having been for many years mate in the Brazilian steam-packet service on the line from Rio de Janeiro to Pará; several American and two Portuguese seamen. The two so-called passengers are residents of Rio de Janeiro, and supposed to be members of an association formed there some time ago, and in Portugal, for slave-trading purposes. I regret to add, that from the investigations made on board by the Chief of Police, four more vessels purchased in The United States and belonging to the same association, are expected with Africans. The first expected is named the Mary Stuart. I have also been in communication with the President of the Province on this subject, as well for the purpose of obtaining information as to watch the nature of the steps taken to punish the guilty. I have expressed to his Excellency, in the name of Her Majesty's Government, my congratulations on the vigilance exercised by the authorities on the coast; but added that, inasmuch as this was the first example of a seizure in flagrante of the crew and papers of a slaver by a Brazilian cruizer, since the passing of the Law of the 4th September, 1850, your Lordship will naturally expect the utmost severity of that law to be enforced against the men-stealers, both as a warning to others, and in proof of the good faith of the Government. The President then requested me to furnish him with a copy of Mr. Grattan's despatch to your Lordship and of the memorandum attached to it, in order to trace the guilt of the parties, and to serve as circumstantial evidence on their prosecution before the Auditor of Marine, and with that request I did not hesitate in complying. Although promised by the President copies of the ship's papers and other documents, to transmit to your Lordship, I have not yet received them, which I shall not delay doing as soon as they come to hand. I inclose herewith copies of my communications with Her Majesty's Legation at Rio, and add thereto translation of a leading article of one of the journals of this city, as it is characteristic of the reaction experienced during some considerable time past in this city in respect to the African traffic. In conclusion, allow me to express the satisfaction I feel that in all the investigations which have taken place at the Police, no individual residing within this Consular district is suspected of having had any dealings in this nefarious case. The Earl of Clarendon. I have, &c. JOHN MORGAN, JUN. (Inclosure 1.)—Consul Morgan to the President of the Province of (Translation.) Bahia. ILLUSTRIOUS AND MOST EXCELLENT SIR, Bahia, January 31, 1856. IN conformity with the request made to me this morning by your Excellency, I have the honour to transmit herewith copy of the despatch addressed by Her Majesty's Consul at Boston to the Earl of Clarendon, as well as of the memorandum furnished by the collector of that port to Mr. Grattan; all of which relate to the American schooner Mary E. Smith, lately captured by the Imperial cruizer Olinda, on the heights of St. Matthew's. I avail, &c. JOHN MORGAN, JUN. ·(Inclosure 2.)—Consul Morgan to Mr. Jerningham, January 30, 1856. [See Page 988.] (Inclosure 3.)—Consul Morgan to Mr. Jerningham, February 4, 1856. [See Page 992.] (Inclosure 4.)-Extract from the "Correio Mercantil" of Bahia, Ir had appeared to us that the ambition of some men, to whom the world is too small-after the oft-repeated attacks of the British cruizers in every quarter against vessels employed in the infamous slave trafic was without life, and that their calculations were without effect; which besides the above drawbacks, the efficacy of our laws, the patriotism and good faith of the Government, and the perfect understanding of the Brazilian authorities to maintain the salutary measure of the repression of the traffic, thereby placing barriers to the thirst for gold on the part of these African Midases; we repeat we had thereby expected to have rendered useless the temerity of the slave-dealers who should yet have pretended to put into execution their damnable intents and malpractices. But, on the contrary, deceived without doubt by the great promises of profit, an American schooner, with a cargo of Bozal Africans, arrived off our shores, with the intent of flagellating and discrediting us, with the intention of landing them at St. Matthew's. Happily, however, one of our cruizers, the Olinda, cruizing towards the south, showed to the contrabandist that the Brazilian cruizers understood the orders and intentions of Government, and watch the interests and credit of a nation that knows how to fulfil with dignity the Treaties she has entered into, and to maintain its rights with that circumspection belonging to an enlightened and philanthropic Government, and which by this seizure gave a sure proof of its activity and recognized zeal in the police of our coasts. The worthy British Consul resident here was already in possession of the projected contraband and unsuccessful speculation, from communications from the Consul of his nation at Boston, from whence the schooner had taken her departure. Hence, therefore, the reason of the frequent visits of Her Britannic Majesty's ships along the coasts of this province, Pernambuco, &c. But notwithstanding this, we say it with pride, it was not necessary for the British cruizers to assist us to capture the American schooner Г |