No. Date & Receipt. 125. H. M's. Comm's. to Mr. Sec. Canning. {D. Jan. 6, 1827 R. Mar. 31, -}Receipt of Parliamentary Papers. 21 SURINAM. D. Dec. 6, 1826 Ordinance, Registration of Slaves. 20 {R. April 14, D. Feb. ·} Absence of Dutch Cruizers...... 20 128. H. M's. Comm's. to Mr. Secr. Canning. 131. H. M's. Comm's, to Mr. Secy. Canning. {R. June 7, ..... 20 -} Vessels furnished with Instructions. 26 ·} Registration of Slaves.............. 27 ડૉ Absence of Dutch Cruizers...... 27 -} Leave of Absence.... 27 D. July 2. -}Mr. Haijunga, Dutch Arbitrator. 27 SIERRA LEONE. (General.) No. 1.-Joseph Reffell, Esq. to Mr. Sec". Canning.-(Rec. Jan 27, 1827.) HAVING on the departure of His Excellency Sir Neil Campbell for The Brigantine De Snelheid, which was before the Court prior to The only Case now before the Court is the Brazilian Brigantine off Lagos, on the 17th October, having no Slaves on board, and which Vessel only reached this on the 11th instant. I have the honour to be, &c. The Right Hon. George Canning. J. REFFELL. No. 2.-Joseph Reffell, Esq. to Mr. Sec". Canning.-(Rec. Jan. 27, 1827.) I HAVE the satisfaction to inform you, that the illness of His Majesty's Commissary Judge has taken a favourable turn; he is, however, still incapable of transacting any manner of business, which will account to you, Sir, I trust satisfactorily, for the accompanying Despatches and Reports being signed by me only. I have the honour to be, &c. The Right Hon. George Canning. J. REFFELL. No. 3.-Mr. Secretary Canning to His Majesty's Commissioners. GENTLEMEN, Foreign Office, 31st January, 1827. I HEREWITH forward to you three Instruments, bearing date the 30th of December 1826, by which His Majesty was graciously pleased to appoint Mr. Daniel Molloy Hamilton to be His Majesty's Commissary Judge, and Mr. William Smith to be His Majesty's Commissioner of Arbitration, and Mr. Joseph Reffell to be Secretary or Registrar, to the Mixed Commissions at present established at Sierra Leone, under the Treaties between Great Britain and The Netherlands, Great Britain and Spain, and Great Britain and Portugal, for the prevention of illegal Slave-trade, and pursuant to the several Acts of Parliament, which have been passed for carrying those Treaties into effect. You will, at an early opportunity after the receipt of this Despatch, take in due form the Oath prescribed to you by the enclosed Instru ments; and you will administer to Mr. William Smith the Oath prescribed to be taken by him, prior to the entering upon your further respective duties in the character assigned to you in His Majesty's Commission of Appointment. You will announce these Appointments to the Foreign Members of the Mixed Commission destined to act with you under the Treaties above-mentioned. You will strictly follow the line of conduct pointed out in the Instructions which have heretofore been given by His Majesty's Secretary of State to His Majesty's Commissioners at Sierra Leone. Further Instructions will, by His Majesty's Command, be transmitted to you, according as it shall appear that such Instructions shall I am, &c. be necessary for your guidance. His Majesty's Commissioners. GEORGE CANNING. No. 4.-Mr. Secretary Canning to His Majesty's Commissioners. GENTLEMEN, Foreign Office, 26th February, 1827. IN reference to your Despatches on the subject of the Activo and Perpetuo Defensor; and, in particular, to the point of the landing of Slaves during adjudication; I send to you, for your information and guidance, the Copies of a Correspondence which has passed upon this subject between the Colonial Department and this Office. From this Correspondence you will perceive, 1st, that Slaves brought into Sierra Leone for adjudication, under the Commission of which you are Members, do not, pending such adjudication, become free, in virtue of their landing on a British Possession, or of being put on board of a Government Vessel, inasmuch as their temporary character of Slaves is recognized by the Acts of Parliament providing for their adjudication under that character. 2dly. You will perceive that such Slaves may, on account of sickness or other sufficient cause, be lawfully disembarked and put on shore, pending adjudication, but that being so landed, the Slaves must be kept and detained in their character of Slaves, until Sentence be pronounced whether they shall be restored or not. 3dly. You will perceive that the Governor of Sierra Leone has been instructed to lend any assistance which you may require, in order to abridge the injurious confinement of the Slaves, on board of the Vessels in which they are brought to Sierra Leone. His Majesty's Commissioners. I am, &c. GEORGE CANNING. (Enclosure 1. A.)—R. W. Hay, Esq. to Joseph Planta, Jun. Esq. Downing Street, 14th February, 1827. SIR, I HAVE received the Earl Bathurst's directions to transmit to you, enclosed, for the consideration of Mr. Secretary Canning, a Copy of a Despatch, with its Enclosures, from the late Acting Governor of Sierra Leone, representing the propriety of adopting measures for averting the injurious consequences which arise to the Slaves who are carried to Sierra Leone for adjudication, from their confinement on board of the Vessels in which they are taken, pending the proceedings before the Courts of Mixed Commission. I am further directed to enclose, for Mr. Secretary Canning's consideration, a Copy of a Report, which Earl Bathurst has considered it necessary to require from His Majesty's Law Officers, on the question as to the legality of disembarking Slaves who may be under process of adjudication; and as it is the opinion of His Majesty's Law Officers that Slaves so circumstanced may, under the Convention of the 28th of July 1817, with Portugal, be lawfully disembarked at Sierra Leone, if sickness or other sufficient cause should so require, his Lordship proposes to instruct the Governor of Sierra Leone to communicate the opinion of His Majesty's Law Officers to the Commissioners of the Courts of Mixed Commission established there, and to intimate to them, that, upon their requisition, he is instructed to lend any assistance which the Commissioners may require, with a view of abridging the injurious confinement of the Slaves on board of the Vessels in which they are brought to Sierra Leone. Joseph Planta, Jun. Esq. I am, &c. R. W. HAY. (Enclosure 1. B.)-Acting Governor Macauley to Earl Bathurst. MY LORD, Sierra Leone, 9th July, 1826. HAVING been informed that disease and death were making dreadful ravages amongst the Slaves confined on board some Vessels in this Harbour, waiting adjudication in the Courts of Mixed Commission, and exposed to all the inclemency of this season of the Year, I thought it my duty to draw the attention of the British Commissioners to the 52d Sec. of the 5th Geo. 4. cap. 113, by which it is enacted, "that when any Slaves, or persons treated, dealt with, carried, kept or detained as Slaves, shall be captured or seized as Prize of War, or as forfeited or liable to forfeiture to His Majesty, or otherwise proceeded against in and by virtue of any Law, and brought to adjudication in the High Court of Admiralty, or in any Court of Vice-Admiralty, or in any Court of His Majesty's Colonies or Plantations, or elsewhere within His Majesty's Dominions, which is or may be authorized to hold jurisdiction; in such cases it shall be lawful for the Person or Persons claiming any right or property in, or the possession of such Slaves, and he is hereby required to put such Slaves on shore." I accordingly addressed a Letter to them, requesting to know whether they considered this Section to apply to their Courts, and having in the interim had a personal interview with the Commissioners, I received from them an answer, stating, that they did not consider Slaves under adjudication in their Courts, subject to these Regulations. The delay in one case, as your Lordship will perceive, has been attended with loss of life to 73 out of 199 human beings, and the wretched survivors are in a state which leaves little hope that they will escape the same fate, 7 of them having died the night they were landed. I therefore take the liberty of bringing this subject under your Lordship's consideration, that your Lordship may be enabled, if you see fit, to ascertain whether the construction put by the British Commissioners on this Section of the Act is correct; and if it is, I would humbly submit to your Lordship the necessity of some more efficient Regulations by which this horrible waste of human life may be prevented for the future. I have, &c. The Right Hon. Earl Bathurst, K. G. K. MACAULAY, Acting Governor. (Enclosure 1. C.)—J. Reffell, Esq. to His Majesty's Commissioners. GENTLEMEN, Secretary's Office, Sierra Leone, June 29, 1826. By command of his Honour, the Acting Governor, I have the honour to enclose, for your information, Copy of a Letter addressed to me by the Prize-Master of the Slave Brig Perpetuo Defensor, and to draw your attention to the following Extract from the 5th Geo. 4. cap. 113, Section 32, eleven lines, commencing, "and be it further enacted," and ending, "such Slaves on shore," and to request to know whether you consider the said recited Extract to be applicable to the Court of British and Portuguese Mixed Commission; and if so, to express his Honour's desire that you will be pleased to give the necessary instructions for carrying the same into effect. J. T. Williams, Esq. D. M. Hamilton, Esq. I have, &c. J. REFFELL, Col. Sec. (Enclosure 1. D.)-The Prize-Master of the Perpetuo Defensor to J. Reffell, Esq. SIR, Slave Brig Perpetuo Defensor, Sierra Leone, June 28, 1826. I HAVE received directions from Mr. Lake, the Proctor for Commodore Bullen, to give up to the Portuguese Claimants the Slaves in this Vessel, and the Susan, Colonial Brig, on their claiming them, to-morrow. I therefore deem it my duty to acquaint you, that, from strong symptoms of discontent and anger manifested by them to-day, on some Person, on part of the Claimants, attempting to take their number in my absence, and the clamorous manner in which I was surrounded on my return, that the Susan will not be safe on my leaving her and this Vessel to-morrow. J. Reffell, Esq. I have, &c. JOHN TOLLERVEY, Prize-Master. (Enclosure 1. E.)-Affidavit of T. H. G. Honyman, Midshipman, in the Case of the La Fortunée. BRITISH AND NETHERLAND MIXED COURT OF JUSTICE, In the Case of the La Fortunée, Jean J. Gimbert, calling himself Master. |