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STATEMENT of the FUNDS of the AFRICAN INSTITUTION, on 31st DECEMBER, 1811.

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APPENDIX.

A.

Extract from the Report of the Commissioners of African Inquiry.

"THE great scene of the Slave Trade is on the coast of Whydaw, the Bight of Benin Gaboon, and the Portuguese settlements in Angola. We have no means here of ascer taining the extent to which it is carried on; but, according to the general opinion of the best-informed Spaniards and Portuguese who have been brought into this port (Sierra Leone), the annual importation was, in the beginning of 1810, considered, at a moderate computation, to be 40,000 for Brazil, 40,000 for the Havannah and Cuba.”

Extract from a Letter of Mr. Z. Macaulay to the Right Hon. Charles Yorke, First Lord of the Admiralty, dated Sept. 21, 1811.

"The information contained in the Report of the Commissioners of African Inquiry, as to the extent of the Slave Trade, derives strong confirmation from the statement of an eye-witness, contained in a letter which I have recently received from Liverpool, and of which I enclose an extract. From that letter it will appear, that from the river Calabar alone, at least 6,000 slaves have been taken in the space of six months, and a like number is supposed to have been car ried in the same time from the river Bonny."

B.

CASES OF SLAVE SHIPS.

1. CASE OF THE BRIG AMELIA, ALIAS THE AGENT.

THIS vessel sailed from Cabenda on the 1st of January last, with 275 slaves on board. After being at sea twenty days, the slaves rose and took her: she was again retaken, off Cape Mount, by the brig Kitty, of Liverpool, and brought into Sierra Leone, 24th May, 181.

The following papers will best convey the leading features of the case.

Instructions to the Master and part Owner, a Native of Great Britain.

"Capt. Alex. Campbell.

"Dear Sir,

"Charleston, 17th May, 1810

"The voyage on which we have jointly embarked, and which is now left to your discretion, is of a very delicate nature, and requires the greatest prudence and discretion. In order to qualify the agent to bring a cargo from the coast, it will be necessary to put her under Portuguese colours: this, . with the assistance of Messrs. Sealy, Roach, and Toole, of Bahia, for whom I enclose you a letter of introduction, you will easily be able to effect. They will procure for you some honest Portuguese merchant, who, for a small sum, shall undertake all that is necessary for owners to do. A captain of colour, one officer, and part of the crew, in compliance with the laws, must be Portuguese; but the Portuguese captain, at the same time that he must be instructed by the pretended owner, to appear for him on all occasions in protecting the ship and property, must also be instructed not to interfere with the navigation of the ship, except at your request; and

he must be put entirely under your orders. As you shall have to grant a bill of sale for the brig, when she is apparently sold, you must be very cautious to take a counter bill of sale; and again, as collateral security, a bottomry bond on the vessel for 10,000 dollars, with a power of attorney from the sham owner to you, to sell and dispose of her in any manner you shall think proper. I would wish you, besides, to take a very strong declaration in writing, witnessed by Sealy, Roach, and Toole, that the sale made by you is merely fictitious; that the cargo and her earnings are bona fide your property; which declaration must be couched so as to be a perfect quit claim from him and his heirs for ever. The next thing I have to recommend to you, is to conduct this business with every possible caution and secrecy, and to prevent as much as possible the knowledge of it to reach either our consul or ambassador, as they might perhaps write home on the subject, and even any of the American captains who may happen to be there at the same time with you. You must therefore appear very cool and indifferent in the business, to let nothing transpire of your future plan, and act as if you were only thinking of returning home. After you have made your brig a Portuguese, you will have to take in a cargo fit for the coast, and proceed there with every possible dispatch. I enclose you a memorandum of the articles which I think will answer best for the trade, to which memorandum I have added a few observations to regulate you for the articles that you could not find, and which might be replaced by others. To this list, however, I do not wish by any means to confine you; I leave it, on the contrary, to you to improve it or curtail it, according to the information which you will be able to collect, as that trade is much followed at Bahia. Negroes are often very plenty there; and if they can be bought at from eighty dollars to one hundred dollars, I would just as well end the voyage there, and give up the trip to Africa. The difference in the price would, in my opinion, be more than compensated by the time and the risk saved thereby. As the cargo you have now on board will not be sufficient to complete the operation, I request Messrs. Sealy, Roach, and Toole to advance you what will be necessary, for