and principally those on Royal Service, to the Stations and Persons to whom they are addressed, securing himself with Receipts in form, that he may present them in this City, and if he does the contrary, he would incur the Penalties of Masters who do not deliver the Mails: that being attacked by an enemy superior in force, before surrendering, he would throw into the Sea the said Mails and Letters, under penalty of paying the sum of 400,000 reis. And Justiniano Joze dos Reis, a Merchant, of this Place, being also present, whom the Master presented to be his Security, I was told by him, that of his free will he agreed to become his Security and principal Agent for all pecuniary Penalties, to which the said Master bound himself by this Writing, which, after being read, they signed with me. MANOEL XAVIER RIBEIRO. Nothing else is contained in the said Writing, which I have extracted faithfully from the said Book, to which I have referred. Benguella, Nov. 4, 1825. MANOEL X. RIBEIRO. Muster Roll of the Schooner Amizade de Santos, for Rio de Janeiro. I, Manoel Xavier Ribeiro, Clerk of the Shipping Department for His Majesty, &c., certify, that I inspected the Persons mentioned in the above List, according to the forms of the Royal Orders. And to prove it, I drew up this present, which I have signed. Benguella, Nov. 3, 1825. MOST ILLUSTRIOUS GOVERNOR, MANOEL X. RIBEIRO. JOZE LOPES DE BASTOS, Master of the Schooner Amizade de Santos, submits that, by the annexed Documents, he is ready to pursue his Voyage to-morrow to the Port of Rio de Janeiro, with a Cargo of Slaves, and, as he cannot do that without permission, he prays that, for that purpose, your Excellency will be pleased to order the Fortress to place no obstacle in the way of his departure. LOPES DE BASTOS. No. 1,024.-It may proceed on the Voyage, this Fortress placing no obstacle in its way. AURELIO. Government-House of Benguella, 8th Nov. 1825. Let this be fulfilled. (Enclosure 1, D.)-Passport of the Schooner Amizade de Santos. (Translation.) FRANCISCO VILLELA BARBOZA, of the Council of State of His Imperial Majesty, Grand Cross of the Imperial Order of Cruzeiro, Knight of the Order of Christ, Colonel of the Imperial Corps of Engineers, Minister and Secretary of State for the Affairs of Marine, and Inspector-General of Marine, &c. &c. &c. I make known to all those who shall see this Passport, that the Schooner Amizade de Santos is to sail from this Port of Rio de Janeiro to Buenos Ayres, whence it is to return to this Court, and of which Schooner José Lopes de Bastos is Master and Owner, a Subject of this Empire, no Foreign Person being on board the said Schooner. Wherefore, if, in going or returning, it should be met, in any Seas or Ports whatsoever, by the Chiefs and Officers of the Ships and Vessels of this Empire, The Emperor of Brazil commands that they put no obstacle in its way. And he recommends to the Fleets, Squadrons, aud Vessels of the Kings, Princes, Republicks, and Potentates, Friends and Allies of this Crown, not to prevent it from pursuing its Voyage, but to aid and favour it in every way necessary, in the certainty that to those who are recommended by their Princes, the same and equal treatment will be shewn. In faith whereof, He commanded this Passport to be given, signed by me, and sealed with the Great Seal of the Imperial Arms. Given in the Palace of Rio de Janeiro, 23d March, in the Year of the Birth of our Lord Jesus Christ, 1825. FRANCISCO VILLELA BARBOZA. By Order of His Excellency, ANTONIO ABZ. DE BRILLO. On the back of the Passport : Registered in folio 20 of the 7th Book of Secretary of State's Office, 24th March, 1825. (Enclosure 2.)—Mr. Consul-Gen. Chamberlain to the Vis. de Inhambupe. MONSIEUR LE VICOMTE, Rio de Janeiro, February 9, 1826. ACKNOWLEDGING the receipt of your Excellency's Note of the 7th instant, together with its Enclosures, respecting the firing at and taking possession of the Brazilian Slave-vessel Amizade de Santos, José Lopes de Bastos, Master and Owner, by the British Transport Thetis, within sight of this Harbour, on the 6th of December last, I do not hesitate to take upon myself to assure your Excellency, that every adequate reparation will be made for the unauthorized and improper act of which your Excellency complains, which act cannot but be entirely disapproved of by His Majesty's Government, to whom I shall not fail to transmit your Excellency's Note, and its Enclosures, by the first opportunity. Having so far had the honour to answer the immediate purport of your Excellency's Note, I take the liberty to submit, for your Excellency's consideration, a few remarks, founded upon the Documents it contains; not for the purpose of excusing or covering the improper conduct of the British towards the Brazilian Vessel, but with the view of pointing out the flagrant breach of the Additional Convention of London (July 28, 1817,) committed by the latter, which, as it appears to me, the Brazilian Government is bound to notice. The 4th Article of that Convention stipulates, "that every Vessel sailing from Rio de Janeiro, to be employed in the licit Slave-trade, must be furnished with a Passport, conformable to the model annexed to the Convention, and forming an integral part thereof; in which Passport is to be specified the number of Slaves the Vessel is permitted to carry." The Amizade de Santos had no such Passport, at least her Master and Owner produces none; but, instead thereof, the common ordinary Passport carried by Merchant Vessels, dated in March, 1825, authorizing her to sail to Buenos Ayres and back again direct. Whether she went to Buenos Ayres does not appear; but, in the Month of November following, she is found in the Port of Benguella, where, without being authorized by her own Government to engage in the Trade at all, she takes on board a Cargo of Slaves, with which Cargo she sails direct for Rio de Janeiro. It would be difficult to imagine a more open breach than this of the rule laid down in the before-mentioned Additional Convention for regulating the mode of carrying on the licit Slave-trade; and your Excellency will, no doubt, upon reflection, see it in the same light. Had the Amizade de Santos been fallen in with at Sea by any British or Brazilian Ship of War employed in checking the illicit Trade, her want of Papers would have justified her detention, and might have been followed by her condemnation. Upon her arrival in this Harbour, I must presume she became liable to the Law, for being informally employed in carrying Slaves. The Papers she produces from the Portuguese Escrivao dos Despachos, in the Portuguese African Port of Benguella, would be insufficient to authorize a Portuguese Slave-vessel to navigate the Seas: how much the less, then, can it be a sufficient Authority for a Brazilian Vessel to engage in the Slave-trade, between Portuguese Africa and Brazil, in contradiction to the express Stipulations of an existing Treaty ? Your Excellency will, I hope, pardon my having ventured to offer these remarks. I have been induced to do so, in order to prepare your Excellency for those of my Government, when they learn that the informal, if not illicit, conduct of the Master and Owner of the Amizade de Santos, which conduct, to say the least of it, is at variance with the Engagements between the two Countries, has apparently neither attracted the notice, nor called forth the disapprobation of the Brazilian Government; but that, the Law being allowed to sleep, their protection is exerted in his favour to the same extent as if he had done nothing wrong, and had not committed an infraction of a Treaty. I profit, &c. H. E. the Viscount de Inhambape. H. CHAMBERLAIN. No. 25.-Mr. Scc". Canning to Ir. Consul-Gen. Chamberlain. SIR, Foreign Office, June 14, 1826. THE circumstances relating to the detention of the Amizade de Santos, by the British Transport Thetis, and to the irregularity of the Voyage of the first-mentioned Vessel, as detailed in your Despatch of the 13th of February, of this Series, have been referred to His Majesty's Advocate-General, who has reported it to be his opinion, that the act of the Thetis was unjustifiable, and contrary to the Provisions of the Convention. The defects that were discovered in the Papers of the Brazilian Vessel were very properly brought, by you, to the notice of the Brazilian Government. As this Vessel had cleared out for Buenos Ayres, it does not appear certain that the Brazilian Government was privy to these irregularities; and, under the particular circumstances of the case, it would not now be advisable to remonstrate further on the discovery made in consequence of the seizure of the Vessel. Henry Chamberlain, Esq. I am, &c. GEORGE CANNING. No.36.-Mr.Cons.-Gen. Chamberlain to Mr. Sec". Canning.-( Rec. July 8.) Rio de Janeiro, March 21, 1826. SIR, I BEG leave to enclose the Copy of a Letter, and its Enclosure, received from Mr. Consul Pennell, stating the number of African Slaves imported into, and exported from, the Port of Bahia, during the Six Months ended the 31st December, 1825. I have, &c. The Right Hon. George Canning. H. CHAMBERLAIN. (Enclosure 1.)-Mr. Consul Pennell to Mr. Consul-Gen. Chamberlain. SIR, Bahia, February 3, 1826. I HAVE the honour to enclose two Returns of the number of Slaves imported into, and exported from, the Port of Bahia, from the 1st July, 1825, to the 31st December, 1825. I have, &c. Henry Chamberlain, Esq. W. PENNELL. (Enclosure 2.)-Return of the Number of Slaves Imported into Bahia, from 1st July, 1825, to 31st December, 1825. (Enclosure 3.)-Return of the Number of Slaves Exported from Bahia, from the 1st July, 1825, to 31st December, 1825. No.37.-Mr. Cons.- Gen. Chamberlain to Mr.Sec. Canning.-(Rec.July 8.) I HAVE the honour to transmit, herewith, Copies of a Despatch, and Enclosure, received from Mr. Consul Pennell, communicating the gratifying information that Licenses to touch at the Islands of St. Thomas and Princes, and other Places within the prohibited Districts, will no longer be granted, by the Government at Bahia, to Slave-vessels sailing from thence on the licit Trade to Ports South of the Equator. |