151 D. July 31, 1824 Maria de la Gloria 74. H. T. Kilbee, Esq. to Mr. Secr. Canning. July 31;}Maria de la Gloria 15, 3, 75. H. T. Kilbee, Esq. to Mr. Secr. Canning D. Aug. 76. H. T. Kilbee, Esq. to Mr. Sec. Canning D. Aug. 18, 18, 18, 77. H. T. Kilbee, Esq. to Mr. Secr. Canning D. Aug. R. Dec. 1, 20, 20, 1, 21, 84. H. T. Kilbee, Esq. to Mr. Secr. Canning D. Oct. 86. H.T. Kilbee, Esq. to Mr. Secy. Canning. Oct. Urraca, Josefa, and Feliciana.... 171 Manumission and Free Labour 172 24, 1825 Maria de la Gloria 15, 1824 Ditto. 31, 1825 ( 89. H. T. Kilbee, Esq. to Mr. Sec. Canning D. Nov. 15, 1824 Nicanor and Tranquilidad. R. Jan. 31, 1825 rafina. Atrevida... 90. H.T. Kilbee, Esq. to Mr. Sec3. Canning(D. Nov. 28, 1824 91. H. T. Kilbee, Esq. to Mr. Secr. Canning(D. Nov. 28, 1824 Serafina. Marie........... Se 181 183 93. H. T. Kilbee, Esq. to Mr. Sec. Canning. Dec. 17, 1824 Bella Dolores R. Mar. 16, 1825 94. H. T. Kilbee, Esq. to Mr. Sec3. Canning R. Mar. 16, 182 R. Mar. 16, 1825 D. Jan. 97. H. T. Kilbee, Esq. to Mr. Secr. Canning D. Jan. 14, Report upon Slave Trade............. 195 Conquistador and Clara. 20. par. Magico Chatica. Magico. S. José. Relampago. Release of a 101. H. T. Kilbee, Esq. to Mr. Sec3. Canning R. Mar. 20, French Slave Vessel at Jamaica 185 Relampago 30, 1824 Disposal of Negroes......................... 185 194 211 RIO DE JANEIRO. No. Date & Receipt. SUBJECT. 104. H.M's. Comm". to Mr. Secr. Canning R. April 12, 1824 Maintenance of Slaves 105. A. Cunningham, Esq. to Mr. Secretary (D. April 16, Canning....... R. June 17, 106. Mr. Secr. Canning to H. M's. Commrs. D. June 19,107. H. M's. Comm”, to Mr. Secr. Canning D. June 16, D. July 6, R. Sept. 20, D. July 12, R. Sept. 20, Absence Page 212 213 Papers laid before Parliament.... 213 D. Aug. 30, D. Nov. SURINAM. 115. Mr. Sec. Canning to H. M's. Comm. D. May 28, 1824 Memorandum. The Despatches received in this Country are placed according to the date of their receipt. The Despatches sent from hence are placed according to the date which they bear. SIERRA LEONE. (General.) No. 1.-Mr. Secretary Canning to His Majesty's Commissioners. GENTLEMEN, Foreign Office, June 9, 1824. IN reference to my Despatch to you, of the 7th of May last, I send to you, for your information, the Copy of a Letter from the Admiralty, stating that Orders have been given for enjoining the Officers employed under the Slave Trade Restriction Treaties, to attend to the purport of the suggestions which you had submitted in regard to obtaining Evidence as to the number of Slaves that may be on board of captured Slave-trading Vessels at the time of their detention. His Majesty's Commissioners. SIR, (Enclosure.)-John Barrow, Esq. to Joseph Planta, Jun., Esq. Admiralty Office, May 13, 1824. HAVING laid before My Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty your Letter of the 7th instant, enclosing a Copy of a Despatch from His Majesty's Commissioners at Sierra Leone, in which they suggest that some directions should be given to His Majesty's Naval Officers, acting under the Treaties for the Prevention of the Slave Trade, in regard to the obtaining Evidence as to the number of Slaves that may be on board captured Slave Vessels at the time of their detention; I am commanded by my Lords to acquaint you, for the information of Mr. Secretary Canning, that they have given Orders for enjoining the Officers employed in the Service alluded to, to attend to the suggestion of the Commissioners upon that point. Joseph Planta, Jun., Esq. I am, &c., JOHN BARROW. No. 2.-Mr. Secretary Canning to His Majesty's Commissioners. GENTLEMEN, Foreign Office, June 19, 1824. I HEREWITH transmit to you, for your information, six Copies of Papers marked A. and B. relative to the Slave Trade, which have been presented to both Houses of Parliament by His Majesty's Command in the course of the present Session. His Majesty's Commissioners. I am, &c., GEORGE CANNING. No. 3.-His Majesty's Commissioners to Mr. Secretary Canning.— SIR, (Received July 14.) Sierra Leone, May 15, 1824. We have the honour to report to you such information as we have been enabled to collect, and such observations as we have been enabled to make upon the state of the Slave Trade on the Western Coast of Africa, since the last Report made to you on this subject by His Majesty's Commissioners on the 29th of April, 1823. The arrival of a new Governor-General from Portugal at the Cape de Verd Islands with a body of European Soldiers, about the commencement of last Year, gave hopes that a system of restraint would be commenced in those Islands, by the Government, against the illicit traders in Slaves. It has indeed been said that soon after the Governor-General's arrival, some Slaves were seized by his orders that were to have been shipped off the Island of Saint Jago for the purposes of Traffick; but we have not heard that this seizure was followed by any other act of vigour on the part of the Government against the illicit Slave-traders. We fear that the Government may have relapsed into its former supineness with regard to those traders, as reports have been very prevalent that the conveyance of Slaves from the Portuguese settlements of Bissao and Cacheo, and from the River Cazamanza to the Islands of the Cape de Verd, still continues to exist. The Slaves from those Places are conveyed in small vessels to the Islands, are landed at some convenient place not far from the principal Towns into which they are subsequently conveyed, and kept in Depôt until an opportunity occurs for their being taken off the Islands by Slave Ships. The Persons employed in this sort of Traffick reside mostly at Porto Praya, the chief Town of the Island of Saint Jago; and, no doubt, they and their pursuits must be very well known to the Government of that Island. The former Master of the Portuguese Schooner "Conde de Villa Flor," that was taken off Bissao, laden with Slaves, in the month of February, 1822, by the Boats of His Majesty's Ship Iphigenia, is very much concerned in this carrying Slave Trade betwixt Bissao, Cacheo, and the Cape de Verd Islands. This Man is stated to be extremely active in the Trade. Irritated at the loss of his Vessel the "Conde de Villa Flor," he is said to have declared his determination not to relinquish the Traffick. It is stated that he had intimated that the voyage of the "Conde de Villa Flor” in which she was captured, was to have been her last, and that it was his intention to have retired from the Trade, but that he is determined now, out of a spirit of defiance, to pursue the Slave Trade with all the means in his power. This Man is described as being intelligent, and as possessing some influence at Bissao, Cacheo, and the Cape de Verd Islands his removal from these Places would be beneficial, and we hope that he may yet be removed under the provisions of the Portuguese Alvara relating to the illicit Slave Trade, the penalties of which might justly be applied to him for the share which he had in the affair of the "Conde de Villa Flor." Another carrier of Slaves betwixt Bissao and the Cape de Verd Islands is a Frenchman named Antoine Leger. This person was also concerned in the affair of the "Conde de Villa Flor." This carrying Slave Trade can only be entirely suppressed by the Local Governments of the Places from whence and to which the Slaves are carried. And it will only be suppressed when a moral feeling shall have arisen amongst the Portuguese People, which shall cause the Trade to be held in reprehension by those Governments. It must be confessed that at present no such feeling seems to exist. Some of the Cape de Verd Islands are described as being capable of producing coffee, sugar, cotton, and most tropical fruits. The attention of the Inhabitants, it appears is but little turned to the cultivation of these articles. Some wine is produced in the Island of Saint Jago, of a tolerably good quality. The rearing of stock, it is said, is attended to in the Island of Saint Jago. A great proportion of the Ships of all Nations bound to the East Indies, or to places in Africa or America, south of that Island, put into Porto Praya harbour for refreshments. The sale of these, however, is monopolised, it is asserted, by the principal Persons of the Island. The rearers of stock do not, therefore, dispose of it to the best advantage, and have not in consequence, all the encouragement that they would have, if permitted to sell their stock directly to the Ships. This circumstance is to be regretted, as it checks, in some degree, the industry in a laudable employment of that class of People. Some cotton cloths of their own manufacture, finely dyed by themselves, and handsomely worked with silk of various colours which they obtain from European traders, are sold by the Inhabitants of the Islands, generally at a high price. The British Settlement of Bathurst in the River Gambia, as it increases in prosperity, will, in time, be the means of checking the Slave Trade, so far, at least, as the influence of that prosperity may extend. The exports from that Settlement are now considerable and consist chiefly of wax, hides, ivory and gold. To the Southward of the British Settlement in the Gambia, are situated the Portuguese Settlements of Bissao and Cacheo. The Papers of the "Conde de Villa Flor" have shewn that it is not a single chance trader, who engages at Bissao and Cacheo in the Traffick in Slaves, but that that Traffick is regularly and sytematically carried on by the Governors and Subordinate Officers of those Places. If we may credit reports that have prevailed from time to time, Vessels have sailed within this last Year from Bissao with Slaves directly to the Brazils. We see no reason to doubt the truth of such reports, well knowing the pertinacity with which the illegal Slavetraders adhere to their nefarious pursuits, and the great want of proper feeling on the part of the Persons in authority at Bissao and Cacheo, in regard to the humane objects contemplated by the Convention with their Government. |