No. 7.-Viscount Castlereagh to His Majesty's Commissioners. GENTLEMEN, Foreign Office, 20th February, 1819. THE printed Memoranda, of which I send to you herewith 10 Copies, have been drawn up with a view to afford you every requisite facility and assistance in the technical part of your duties as His Majesty's Commissary Judge and Commissioner of Arbitration.

You will communicate a Copy of them to the Commissioners of His Catholick Majesty, and to the Commissioners of His Most Faithful Majesty, and you will propose to them the adoption of the substance of this Document as the guide of the form of your proceedings, as far as circumstances will admit. His Majesty's Commissioners.

I am, &c.

CASTLEREAGH.

(Inclosure.)-Memoranda for the guidance of the Commissions. THESE Commissions are framed in pursuance of the following Treaties between His Britannick Majesty, and His Most Faithful Majesty the King of Portugal, His Catholick Majesty the King of Spain, and His Majesty the King of The Netherlands.

The Treaty with Portugal was made on the 28th July, 1817, and Ratifications were exchanged at Rio Janeiro on the 27th November, 1817.

The Treaty with Spain was made on the 23d September, 1817, and Ratifications exchanged at Madrid on the 22d November, 1817.

The Treaty with the King of The Netherlands was made on the 4th of May, 1818, and Ratifications exchanged at The Hague on the 25th of May, 1818.

It may not, in the first place, be improper to take a short review of these Treaties as they regard the illicit Traffick in Slaves.

The Treaties between this Country and Portugal and Spain, and the Acts of Parliament for carrying those Treaties into effect, declare illicit all Traffick in Slaves by British Ships;-all Traffick in Slaves by Portuguese or Spanish Ships, in Parts therein specified, and all such Traffick in other Parts by Portuguese or Spanish Ships, for or on account of the Subjects of any other Government, or bound for any Port not in the Dominions of the Sovereign to which the Ship may belong.

By the Treaty with the King of The Netherlands, that Sovereign engages within 8 months, or sooner if possible, from the exchange of the Ratifications, to prohibit all his Subjects, in the most effectual manner, and especially by Penal Law, the most formal, to take any part whatever in the trade of Slaves; and in the event of the measures already taken by the British Government, and to be taken by that of The Netherlands, being found ineffectual, or insufficient, the High Contracting Parties mutually engage to adopt such further measures,

by legal provision, or otherwise, as may from time to time appear best calculated to prevent all their respective Subjects from taking any share whatever in this nefarious Traffick.

It is expressly stipulated by all the High Contracting Powers, that no Vessels shall be detained, but those having Slaves actually on board: that they are to be carried as soon as possible, for judgment, to the nearest Place, where, one of the Mixed Commissions is sitting, or which the Captor thinks he can soonest reach from the spot where the Slave Ship shall have been detained; and no Cruizer is legally authorized to detain any Vessel, unless such Cruizer forms part of the British, Portuguese, Spanish, or Netherland Royal Navies, and is furnished with the Special Instructions pointed out in the Treaties for visiting Merchant Vessels suspected of having Slaves on board; the visitation and search are directed to be done in the most mild manner; and in no case is the search to be made by an Officer holding rank inferior to that of Lieutenant in the British, Portuguese, or Netherland Royal Navies; or of Ensign of a Ship of the Line in the Spanish Navy.

By the Treaty with Spain it is declared to be illegal at present for any Spanish Subject to carry on the Slave-trade on any part of the Coast of Africa, North of the Equator, upon any pretext, or in any manner whatever; and His Catholick Majesty engages that the Slavetrade shall be abolished throughout the entire Dominions of Spain on the 30th May, 1820, and after that period it shall not be lawful for any Spanish Subject to purchase Slaves, or carry on the Slave-trade; but the same is then to cease entirely. A term, however, of 5 months from the said 30th May, 1820, is allowed for completing the Voyages of those Vessels which shall have cleared out lawfully, previous to the said 30th May, 1820.

By the Separate Article to the Additional Convention with Portugal, dated London, 11th September, 1817, it is stipulated, that as soon as the total Abolition of the Slave-trade for the Subjects of the Crown of Portugal shall have taken place, the two High Contracting Parties agree to adapt to that state of circumstances the Stipulations of of the said Convention, dated 28th July, 1817; but in default of such alterations, the Additional Convention of that date shall remain in force until the expiration of 15 Years, from the day on which the general Abolition of the Slave-trade shall so take place on the part of the Portuguese Government.

All Traffick in Slaves, by the Portuguese, to the Northward of the Equator is prohibited, and the only trading in Slaves to the South of the Equator, which is at present allowed to the Portuguese by the Treaty or Convention of 28th July, 1817, is limited to the Territories possessed by the Crown of Portugal upon the Coast of Africa; viz. the

Territory lying between Cape Delgado Bay and the Bay of Laurenzo Marques, upon the Eastern Coast of Africa; and upon the Western Coast, all the Territory which is situated from the 8th degree to the 18th degree of South Latitude.

By the IId Article of the Treaty it is declared, that the Territories over which the King of Portugal has retained the rights of Sovereignty on the Coast of Africa, South of the Equator, are those of Molembo and Cabinda upon the Eastern Coast, from the 5 deg. 12 min. to the Sth deg. South. This must be an error, as those Places are on the Western Coast of Africa.

Every Portuguese or Spanish Vessel engaged in this trade must be provided with a Royal Passport permitting such Traffick.

The Mixed Commissions are to consist of two Commissary Judges, and two Commissioners of Arbitration; one of each to be named by His Britannick Majesty, and the others by the Kings of Portugal and Spain, as they shall be established in their respective Dominions: to each Commission is to be attached a Secretary or Registrar, whose appointment is vested in the Sovereign of the Country in which the Commission may reside, and the Proceedings under the Commissions are to be written down in the language of the Country, where the same may be respectively established.

The British Government has undertaken to indemnify the Proprietors of all Portuguese Vessels improperly detained after the 1st July, 1814; but no claim for compensation can be admitted for a larger number of Slaves than was permitted according to the rate of tonnage of the Vessel captured; and the Individuals having a just claim are to be paid the same within the space of a Year, at farthest, from the decision of each Case.

It has been before observed that no Vessels are legally liable to be captured, but those having Slaves actually on board for the express purpose of the Traffick; so that a Vessel having Negro Servants or Sailors on board is not, for that reason, to be detained; and no Merchantman or Slave-ship is to be visited or detained whilst in the Port or Roadstead belonging to either of the High Contracting Powers, or within cannon-shot of the Batteries on shore, excepting on the Continent of Africa, North of the Equator; but no Slave-ship, either Portuguese or Spanish, is to be elsewhere detained near the land, or even on the High Seas, South of the Equator, unless after a chace, which shall have commenced North of the Equator: and if any Vessel be detained South of the Equator, the proof as to the illegality of the Voyage is to be exhibited by the Captor; and, in all cases of Slaveships detained to the North of the Equator, the proof of the legality of the Voyage is to be furnished by the Vessel so detained.

It is stipulated, that, notwithstanding the number of Slaves found

on board any Vessel may not agree with the number contained in the Passport, yet that shall not be a sufficient reason to justify the detention of the Ship.

When a Slave-ship shall be detained, the Master thereof and a part, at least, of the Crew, are to be left on board, and the Captor is directed to draw up in writing an authentic Declaration, which shall exhibit the state in which he found the detained Ship, and the changes which may have taken place in it; and to deliver to the Master of the Slave-ship a signed Certificate of the Papers seized on board such detained Vessel, as well as the number of Slaves found on board. None of the Slaves are to be disembarked till after the Vessel shall have arrived at the Place, where the legality of the Capture is to be tried, unless urgent motives, deduced from the length of the Voyage, the state of health of the Negroes, or other causes, should make a disembarkation (entirely or in part) necessary before the Vessel's arrival: the Commander of the capturing Ship, however, takes upon himself the responsibility of such disembarkation, and the necessity thereof must be stated in a Certificate in proper form, and the following are considered as proper Declarations or Certificates, to be used as circumstances may arise.

(1.)-Form of Declaration of the state of the Vessel at the time of Capture.

I

, Commander of His Britannick Majesty's Ship

hereby declare, that on this

being in or about latitude or Vessel named the

day of

declared her to be bound from

consisting of

Men,

Boys, Supercargo,!

Passengers, whose names, as

declared by them respectively, are

inserted in a List at foot hereof, and having on board

Slaves,

I do further declare that the said Ship or Vessel appeared [or not] to be seaworthy, and was [or not] supplied with a sufficient stock of water [or not] and provisions for the support of the said Negroes and Crew on their destined Voyage to

I do further declare

[Here insert any observations of the state and condition of the Ship and Crew, and Slaves, which may appear important to notice and record.]

To be witnessed by two Officers, of whom the Surgeon to be one, if on board.

(2.)-Form of Certificate to be given to the Master of a Vessel

and that the Papers and Documents seized by me on board the said Ship or Vessel, being marked from No. 1. to No.

in the following List.

[Here the List is to follow.]

are enumerated

(3.)-Form of Certificate of the necessity of disembarking Slaves from

I do further declare, that finding it necessary to disembark

of the Slaves before the Vessel could arrive at