A Curator was nominated in the form of the said Alvarà. The Judge announced to the public, that the Negroes were to be hired to Individuals, who were to apply for them to him in writing, and having obtained a Portuguese Subject of property as security, and being themselves approved, were deemed competent Persons. They were hired to the best Bidder, at the Judge's door, but to those only whose petitions had been approved by the Judge and Curator. A Bond was entered into by each successful Bidder, for each Negro, to maintain, clothe, and instruct him or her in the Christian Religion, as well as in some mode of gaining a livelihood, and to pay the sum agreed upon annually in advance, as well as a fee to the Judge, his Clerk, and the Curator, on signing the Bond. Notwithstanding, my Lord, the trouble and expense attending the hire of these Negroes, the competition was very considerable, owing, I presume, to their being a very superior race to those usually imported here, and to there being no risk of loss of capital in the event of death or desertion. They were hired, my Lord, at the rate of from 9 to 34 mil reis per annum, which, on an average, is fully equal to the interest of purchase money of new Negroes, and to Capitalists, in a pecuniary point of view, a disadvantage rather than an advantage. I am informed, my Lord, by the Judge, that an account is to be opened in the name of each Negro; that the money received on their account is to be placed in a coffer, which is to have 3 keys, to be in the possession of the Judge, a Treasurer, and the Curator; and that whatever may be due to each, will be paid to them at the expiration of their servitude. Three hundred were distributed, my Lord, in this manner to Individuals; the remaining 50 to the Government, in different branches, on the same conditions: I have myself hired three, on the same terms, with a view of securing their freedom to them as soon as they are capable of profiting by it. I cannot answer for there having been no abuses in the distribution; generally speaking, I believe the Negroes are in good hands, and will be well treated; but I should have preferred seeing them hired by private contract, rather than publick auction, because character might then be preferred to a trifling pecuniary advantage. I think, my Lord, all things considered, that if honesty and good faith are maintained to the end, the system is as good as could have been expected. I have the honour, &c. HENRY HAYNE. The Marquess of Londonderry, K.G. SURINA M. No. 121.-Messrs. Lefroy & Wale to Visct. Castlereagh.-(Rec. March 30.) (Extract.) Paramaribo, 12th January, 1821. We think it proper to take this opportunity of acquainting your Lordship with the recent death of our Colleague, the Dutch Commissary Judge, M. J. P. Changnion. Viscount Castlereagh, K. G. C. E. LEFROY. No. 122.-Messrs. Lefroy & Wale to Visct. Castlereagh.-(Rec. April.) Paramaribo, 5th February, 1821. MY LORD, We have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your Lordship's Letter of the 7th November last; inclosing the Copy of a Note from the Ambassador of the King of The Netherlands, at the Court of London, notifying that The Netherlands Brig the Swallow, then on her Cruize in the West Indies, would be furnished with a Copy of the Treaty of the 4th May, 1818, and of the Documents annexed thereto, on the subject of the restriction of the commerce in Slaves. The Swallow Brig has not yet arrived in this Port, nor have we heard of her being in any other part of the West Indies, and we are extremely sorry to say that a fresh arrival of Slaves, evidently not coming within the exception contained in the Dutch Prohibitory Ordonnance of the 1st September, 1818, and in obvious evasion of the Treaty of the 4th May, of the same Year, have within these few days been admitted into this Colony. We have, &c. Viscount Castlereagh, K. G. C. E. LEFROY. No. 123.-Mes rs. Lefroy and Wale to Visct. Castlereagh.-(Rec. Apr. 17.) Paramaribo, 16th February, 1821. MY LORD, We have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your Lordship's Letters of last December. We have communicated the information contained in the first, (viz. the names and description of the Ships of the British Navy, commissioned under the Treaty with The Netherlands, for the suppression of the illicit Traffick in Slaves) to the other Members of our Board; and we shall obey the directions of your Lordship, conveyed in the second, by communicating to your Lordship and to His Britannick Majesty's Representative at Brussels, the name of any British Subject engaged in this trade in violation of the 51st Geo. III. c. 23, whenever the legal evidence, necessary to make such communication available, shall be brought before us. We beg at the same time to observe, that as these importations are almost all under the French Flag, and probably accompanied by regular Documents, purporting the Negroes to be all Creoles, or old imported Slaves of the French Island, from which the Vessel professes to have procured them, although there can be no moral doubt of the contrary being the fact, it will be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to procure evidence of privity to their African origin, sufficiently precise and conclusive against the Parties engaged, to ensure their conviction in a British Court of Justice, or in any way to prevent the continuance of the Slave-trade under this Flag, unless some additional measures for its suppression are taken by the French and Dutch Governments. It is painful to us to reflect, that we have scarcely been able to close a single Dispatch to your Lordship since our arrival, without mentioning some case of the admission of Slaves into this Colony, in evasion of the Treaty in the execution of which we have the honour to be employed; and we are compelled to add to the present, that in spite of the strongest remonstrance which we have thought ourselves at liberty to make to his Excellency the Governor-General, (who in consequence of the death of our late Colleague M. P. I. Changnion, the Dutch Commissary Judge, is now one of the Members of our Court,) 2 Cargoes of fresh Africans, under the French Flag, have been admitted into this Place since the date of our last Letter. We have, &c. Viscount Castlereagh, K. G. C. E. LEFROY. No. 124.-Messrs. Lefroy & Wale to Visct. Castlereagh.-(Rec. May 11.) We have the honour to acknowledge your Lordship's Letter of the 16th November, 1820, accompanied by a Copy of the list furnished to your Lordship from the Admiralty Office, under date of the 11th October, 1820, of such of His Majesty's Ships as are now cruizing, supplied with the Instructions referred to in the several Treaties with Foreign Powers for the prevention of the illicit traffick in Slaves, specifying the Names of their Commanders, and the Stations to which they belong. We have, in obedience to your Lordship's directions, communicated this information to the Board of Commission, of which we are Members. It is with regret we are made to perceive, by the continued admission of Slaves into Surinam, the inefficacy of the measures yet adopted to suppress the illegal traffick. We feel convinced, that as long as the French Flag is exempt from Foreign inspection, and the Authorities in this Colony as indifferent on the subject as they have hitherto shown themselves, so long will the Dutch Colonists find in the French Settlements a ready medium for the supply of Africans, in defiance of any restrictive Enactments at present in force. Viscount Castlereagh, K. G. We have, &c. C. E. LEFROY. THOMAS S. WALE. 群 No. 125.-Messrs. Lefroy and Wale to Visct. Castlereagh.-(Rec. May 21.) MY LORD, Surinam, 3d April, 1821. We have the honour to acknowledge the receipt, on the 28th ult. of your Lordship's Letter of September 24th, 1820, inclosing a Copy of a Dispatch, addressed by your Lordship to the British Ministers at The Hague, Madrid, and Rio Janeiro, explanatory of the Article in the Treaty of the 4th May, 1818, for the repressing the Slave-trade, which provides that no Vessel shall be liable to seizure under that Treaty, unless in the event of Slaves being actually found on board. We shall, as far as lies in our power, adopt the construction which His Majesty's Government gives to this provision, and shall press its expediency in all our Communications with the other Members of the Court to which we belong. We have, &c. Viscount Castlereagh, K.G. C. E. LEFROY. No. 126.—Messrs. Lefroy and Wa'e to Joseph Planta, Jun. Esq. (Received May 21.) SIR, Surinam, 3d April 1821. WE beg leave to acknowledge the receipt, on the 26th ultimo, of your Letter, dated 29th December, 1820, informing us by Lord Castlereagh's direction, that His Netherland Majesty's Corvette l'Arend (PAigle) of 28 guns and 150 Men, about to sail for the East Indies, would be provided with a Copy of the Treaty of the 4th May, 1818, and the Documents thereto annexed, relative to the repression of the Slave-trade. We are, &c. Joseph Planta, Jun. Esq. C. E. LEFROY. THOMAS S. WALE. No. 127.-Messrs Lefroy and Wale to Visct. Castlereagh.-(Rec. Aug. 8.) IN obedience to the commands communicated to us by your Lordship, we have the honour to inform you, that on the 19th instant, the French Schooner l'Aurore, which sailed from Guadeloupe on the 18th of last month, commanded by M. l'Oiseau, disembarked in the Town of Paramaribo 143 Slaves, consigned to Mr. Solomon de la Para, a resident Proprietor in this Colony. We have no hesitation in giving it as our opinion, derived from actual observation, that this Cargo is of a description similar to those which we have before noticed to your Lordship, the Negroes having evidently been recently imported from Africa; at the same time, we think it proper to add, that since the 16th February, when we last had occasion to acquaint your Lordship with the arrival of 2 Cargoes of Africans, we understand that 2 or 3 Slave-vessels have been refused admittance to this Port; upon what grounds, we are unable to inform your Lordship, no communication on the subject having been made to us by the Colonial Authorities. Viscount Castlereagh, K. G. We have, &c. C. E. LEFROY. THOMAS S. WALE. No. 128.-Messrs. Lefroy and Wale to Joseph Planta, Jun. Esq. (Received August 13.) SIR, Paramaribo, Surinam, 3d June, 1821. WE beg leave to acknowledge the receipt of your Letter of the 27th of February, acquainting us, by the direction of Viscount Castlereagh, that it had been notified to him by the Ambassador from the Court of The Netherlands, that His Netherland Majesty's Frigate Melampus, of 350 Men, 44 guns, commanded by Captain Le Man, which is about to sail for the East Indies, will be provided with a Copy of the Treaty of May 4th, 1818, and with the Documents thereto annexed, relating to the repression of the Slave-trade. We are, &c. Joseph Planta, Jun. Esq. C. E. LEFROY. No. 129.-Messrs. Lefroy and Wale to the Marquess of Londonderry. (Received September 14.) (Extract.) Surinam, 4th July, 1821. We have the honour to inclose a Proclamation of the Governor of Surinam, promulgating the Copy of a Decree of His Netherland Majesty, dated the 16th April, 1821, on the subject of the importation of Slaves into this Colony. Your Lordship will immediately perceive that this Decree leaves the case just were it found it, imposing no new restriction whatever on the Trade, inasmuch as none of the neighbouring Colonies are affected by the prohibition. The French Colonies, your Lordship is aware, are amongst those whose Sovereigns have prohibited the African Slavetrade; yet it is from them chiefly, as we have informed your Lordship, that importations to Surinam of new Africans have been made. The Marq. of Londonderry, K.G. C. E. LEFROY. (Inclosure.)-Proclamation of the Governor of Surinam, publishing the Decree of the King of The Netherlands, of 16th April, 1821. Gazette of the Government, No. 5.—(Translation.) WE, Cornelius Rynhard Vaillant, Knight of the Order of The Netherlands Lion, Governor-General, ad interim, of the Colony of Surinam, Commander-in-Chief of the Land and Sea Forces in the same, &c. &c. To all who shall see these presents, or shall hear them read, greeting: We notify, that his Excellency the Minister for Publick Instruction, National Industry, and the Colonies, having, under date of April 22d last, transmitted to us a Decree of His Majesty, dated Brussels, April 16, 1821, (No. 59.) of the following tenour: |