No. 40.-The Earl of Clancarty to the Marquess of Londonderry. (Received 24th January.) (Extract.) The Hague, 11th January, 1822. THE Mail of Tuesday last from London, which arrived here yesterday Evening, brought me your Lordship's Dispatch of the 4th Instant with its several Inclosures, comprising the Correspondence of His Majesty's Commissioners at Surinam with the Governor of that Colony, upon the subject of several importations of African Slaves there, in violation of the Treaty between Great Britain and The Netherlands. Upon the subject of the violation of this important Treaty, by or under the connivance of the Colonial Authorities of this Country, your Lordship is acquainted with all the Correspondence which, in conformity with the Instructions received from His Majesty's Government, has been carried on by this Embassy with the Court of The Netherlands, and you are also fully aware of all the difficulties which were encountered in its progress. In what manner, with your Lordship's and the Duke of Wellington's immediate assistance, a reasonable prospect has been afforded of surmounting these difficulties in future, will be found detailed in my Dispatch of the 4th December of the last year. Under these circumstances, upon reading over the Correspondence of His Majesty's Commissioners at Surinam, inclosed with your Lordship's Dispatch, and finding that the whole statements of which it was composed referred to transactions prior to the issue or possible receipt of the Instructions by their Colonial Authorities from this Government of the last year, which they allege to be effectual; I deemed it merely necessary, in the present state of the business, to communicate their substance verbally to the Baron de Nagell. The Marquess of Londonderry, K.G. CLANCARTY. No. 41. The Earl of Clancarty to the Marquess of Londonderry. (Received January 24.) (Extract.) The Hague, 18th January, 1822. IN my Dispatch, addressed to your Lordship on 4th December last, I had the honour of stating that I should address a Note, under your Lordship's Instructions, to M. le Baron de Nagell, relative to the illicit introduction of 143 Slaves, by the French Schooner l'Aurore, into the Colony of Surinam. The answer to this Note reached me on the 16th instant; of this a Copy is herewith inclosed. As the disembarkation of the Slaves was clearly in direct violation of the provisions of the Treaty, I have thought it my duty, in answering the Baron de Nagell's Note, to suggest to this Government the propriety of their issuing orders for the restoration to freedom of the un fortunate Individuals who have thus been made the objects of illicit Traffick. The Marquess of Londonderry, K.G. CLANCARTY. (Inclosure).-The Baron de Nagell to the Earl of Clancarty. SON Excellence le Comte de Clancarty, &c. a représenté itérativement, et en dernier lieu par sa Note en date du 26 Novembre dernier, contre l'importation d'Esclaves à Surinam, en contravention du Traité du 4 Mai, 1818. Le Soussigné, etc. a l'honneur d'observer à Son Excellence en général, et plus particulièrement à l'égard de la cargaison d'Esclaves importée par le Navire François, l'Aurore, Capitaine l'Oiseau, dont la Note du 26 Novembre fait mention, que le Gouverneur-Général, ad interim, à Surinam, a cru pouvoir permettre l'entrée et la vente des 143 Esclaves provenant de cette cargaison, en vertu de l'Article 5 de la Loi du 20 Novembre, 1818; Le Maître, Contre Maître de l'équipage du dit Navire, ayant déclaré sous serment, par devant la Cour de Justice de Surinam, que ces Esclaves avaient sejourné depuis 5 à 6 ans à la Guadeloupe. Son Excellence aura vu, par le Rapport du Ministre des Colonies joint aux Instructions qui ont été dépêchées à Surinam, et qui se rapportent à l'Arrêté explicatif du Roi des Pays Bas, en date du 6 Avril, dernier, que le dit Arrêté a été connu à Surinam vers le 1 Juillet, et que par conséquent toute importation d'Esclaves qui, jusques là, aura pu être accordée en vertu de l'Article 5 de la Loi précitée, aura cessée à dater de cette époque; de sorte qu'on aime à se flatter que les informations que le Gouvernement Britannique aura reçues depuis ce tems, ne donneront plus sujet à des plaintes de cette nature. Le Soussigné prie Son Excellence M. le Comte de Clancarty d'agréer, &c. S. E. Le Comte de Clancarty. A. W. C. de NAGELL. No. 42.-The Marquess of Londonderry to the Earl of Clancarty. MY LORD, Foreign Office, 12th February, 1822. IN reference to the Treaty with the Government of The Netherlands for the prevention of the Slave-trade, I have to acquaint you, for the information of that Government, that it appears by a Dispatch from Sir Charles Rowley, commanding on the West Indian Station, that a signed Instruction, as mentioned in the said Treaty, has been issued to His Majesty's Ship Tyne, of 26 guns, Captain James Kearney White, Commander. I am, &c. H. E. the Earl of Clancarty, G.C.B. LONDONDERRY. No. 43.-The Earl of Clancarty to the Marquess of Londonderry. (Received February 24.) (Extract.) The Hague, 19th February, 1822. THE last Mail from England brought me your Lordship's Dispatches of the 12th instant. The Communication I am directed to make to this Government that the proper signed Instructions, under the Treaty of May 1818, for the Abolition of the Slave Trade, had been issued to His Majesty's Ship, the Tyne, has been conveyed accordingly; and I have received from his Excellency M: le Baron de Nagell, an answer acknowledging the receipt of this Communication. The Marquess of Londonderry, K.G. CLANCARTY. No. 44.-The Marquess of Londonderry to the Earl of Clancarty. IN reference to my Dispatch of the 6th of April, 1819, addressed to Mr. Chad, upon the subject of the facilities afforded by the Dutch at Elmina to the carrying on of the illegal Traffick in Slaves, by supplying Foreign Slave-trade Vessels with Canoes, without which that Trade could not be carried on between the Gold Coast and the Line; I have the honour to transmit herewith to your Excellency, the Copy of a Communication, dated the 14th instant, from Mr. Cock, who acted as Secretary to the late African Institution. Your Excellency will perceive by the purport of this Communication, that the hopes held out by the Baron de Nagell to Mr. Chad, that the practices in question would be effectually repressed, have, unfortunately, not been realized. Your Excellency will therefore take an early opportunity of laying the inclosed statement before the Ministry of the King of The Netherlands, and of urging them to send out to Elmina, without delay, such Instructions as shall be best calculated to give effect to the benevolent intentions of their Sovereign, to put an end by every means in his power, to the nefarious Traffick in Slaves I have, &c. LONDONDERRY. H. E. The Earl of Clancarty, G.C.B. (Inclosure 1.)-S. Cock, Esq. to the Marquess of Londonderry. MY LORD, New Broad-street, 14th February, 1822. I MOST respectfully beg leave to lay before your Lordship an extract of a Letter which has just been received by a Member of the late African Committee, from his Correspondent on the Gold Coast, by which it will be seen that the Dutch at Elmina are encouraging the Slave-trade, by allowing Foreign Slave-vessels to obtain those supplies of Canoes at that Settlement, without which that Trade could not be carried on between the Gold Coast and the Line. The importance of preventing Slave-ships obtaining such supplies of Canoes, was pointed out to your Lordship by the Committee, in my Letter to you of the 30th March, 1819, to which I humbly beg to refer on the present occasion. I have the honour to be, &c. The Marquess of Londonderry, K. G. S. COCK. (Inclosure 2.)—Extract of a Letter from Anoramobaz, dated the 10th November, 1821. NOT a week passes but two Portuguese Vessels arrive at Elmina: it is extraordinary that this is not stopped, and still more so that the Dutch supply the Portuguese with Canoes,-a main point to them. The Slave-trade is more openly and securely carried on since the Treaty with Spain and Portugal than before. No. 45.-The Earl of Clancarty to the Marquess of Londonderry. (Received March 14.) (Extract.) The Hague, 5th March, 1822. YOUR Lordship's Dispatch of the 24th ultimo, with its Inclosures, reached me on the Evening of Friday last, the 1st instant. In obedience to the Instruction thereby conveyed, the Note, of which the accompanying Paper is a Copy, was addressed by me to M. de Nagell. The Marquess of Londonderry, K.G. CLANCARTY. (Inclosure.) The Earl of Clancarty to the Baron de Nagell. The Hague, 2d March, 1822. THE Undersigned, &c. has been directed to acquaint this Government, that notwithstanding the very full and detailed explanations afforded by M. de Nagell's Note of the 11th August, 1820, upon the subject, information has been communicated to the British Government from the African Gold Coast, dated so lately as the 10th November, 1821; whence it should appear that encouragement still continues to be given by the Dutch Colony at Elmina to the Slave-trade, by the supply to Foreign, and especially to Portuguese Vessels, of Canoes for the purpose of carrying it on. Scarcely a week is said to pass in which two Portuguese Ships do not arrive at Elmina, and there meet with all the facilities of Canoes, for the furtherance of this Traffick, which they can desire. It should appear, therefore, that the hopes held out by his Excellency's Note above referred to have not been realized. Fully sensible as is his Court of the laudable anxiety of His Majesty the King of The Netherlands to put a stop to this practice, the Undersigned has been instructed to state the above fact to this Court, full reliance being placed, that such Instructions will in consequence be immediately sent out to Elmina, as shall be best calculated to prevent in future the facilities afforded to Foreigners on that Coast, through the supply of Canoes, by which they are enabled to carry on the Slave trade, and such as may give full effect to the benevolent intentions of His Majesty, for the abolition of this Traffick. The Undersigned, &c. H. E. The Baron de Nagell. CLANCARTY. No. 46.-The Earl of Clancarty to the Marquess of Londonderry. (Received March 25.) (Extract.) The Hague, 22d March, 1822. I HAD yesterday a very interesting and most satisfactory Conference with the Minister for the Colonies of this Government, upon the proper construction and execution of the Treaty of 4th May, 1818, between His Majesty and the King of The Netherlands, for the abolition of the Slave-trade. In this, his Excellency expressed himself as willing to admit, in its full extent, the justice of our construction of this solemn and important Treaty:-and that under its provisions all Trade whatever in Slaves, whether direct or indirect, was absolutely prohibited to the Subjects of both Countries, and consequently, that all importations of Slaves into the Colonies of The Netherlands, from any place whatever, and under whatever Flag, (except from one part of their Colonies to another, in Dutch Ships) was strictly to be prevented as illicit and inadmissible: that however some instances of infraction might have occurred at a prior period, he gave me the most solemn assurances that the King, his Master, was as anxiously bent as my Government could be, in carrying every provision of the Treaty under the above construction into full execution; and that the measures he (M. de Falck) under His Majesty's directions, had already taken, were such as completely to insure this object:-that on the effect of these he had the most perfect reliance; that they would have come into operation by reaching the Colonies about the 1st of July last; subsequently to which date I might confidently assure my Government that no infraction whatever of the Treaty, by Subjects of The Netherlands, over which any Government could reasonably be considered as possessing control, would be found to occur, and especially at Surinam. After the embarrassments which have been encountered in the humane efforts of His Majesty to put an end to the detestable Traffick in Slaves, through the medium of Treaties with several of the Powers of Europe, permit me to congratulate your Lordship, upon what I trust I may (without the fear of disappointment) designate as the full accomplishment of this important object, as far as relates to the Kingdom of The Netherlands. The Marquess of Londonderry, K.G. CLANCARTY. |