shall be by him kept in the said office; and the said registrar shall, from time to time, carry on, continue, correct, and enlarge the copies of the several registries of slaves respectively, pursuant to the further returns of slaves which may from time to time be received from the several colonies, and shall form such indexes and abstracts, and such convenient arrangements in other respects as may best promote regu larity in keeping the said books, and facilitate search therein; and also, that every such registrar or his clerk or assistants, so to be ap pointed as aforesaid, shall give due attendance at the said office every day in the week, (except Sundays and such holidays as are kept at the bank of England,) from the hour of ten o'clock in the morning to the hour of four o'clock in the afternoon, for the despatch of all business belonging to the said office; and that every such registrar, or his clerks or assistants, shall, as often as required, make searches concerning any slave or slaves that shall be registered or supposed to be registered in any of the said books; and shall also, if required, give certificates under the hand of the said registrar as to the registration or non-registration of any such slave or slaves, with extracts, when the same is or are to be found to be registered, of the name and descrip tion, or names and descriptions thereof, and of the plantation or plantations, owner or owners, to whom the same is or are described to belong, and of any other particulars relating thereto which may be stated in the said registry; and that such registrar shall be entitled to receive for every such search, certificate, or extract, such sums as shall be duly appointed in the schedule of fees, to be fixed by the said com. missioners of the treasury as is hereinbefore provided for; and also, that it shall not be lawful for any of his Majesty's subjects in this united kingdom to purchase or to lend or to advance any money, goods, or effects upon the security of any slave or slaves in any of his Majesty's colonies or foreign possessions, unless such slave or slaves shall appear by the return received therein to have been first duly registered in the said office of the registrar of colonial slaves; and that every sale, mortgage, and conveyance, or assurance of, and every charge or other security upon any slave or slaves not so appearing to be registered, which shall be made or executed within this united kingdom, to or in trust for any of his Majesty's subjects, shall be absolutely null and void in respect of any such unregistered slave or slaves; and that for this purpose no slave or slaves shall be deemed and taken to be duly registered, unless it shall appear that a return of such slave or slaves duly made by the owner or owners, or other persons in his or their behalf, in the manner and form required by law in the colony in which such slave or slaves may reside, or a copy or abstract of such return, shall have been received in the office of the said registrar from the colony in which such slave or slaves shall reside, within the four years next preceding the date of such sale, mortgage, conveyance, or assurance, charge or security, as aforesaid; and also, that no deed or instrument made or executed within this united kingdom, whereby any slave or slaves in any of the said colonies shall be intended to be mortgaged, sold, charged, or in any manner transferred or conveyed, on any estate or interest therein created or raised, shall be good or valid in law, to pass or convey, charge or affect any such slave or slaves, unless the registered name and description, or names and descriptions, of such slave or slaves, shall be duly set forth in deed or instrument, or in some schedule thereupon endorsed of thereto annexed, according to the then latest registration, or corrected

registration, of such slave or slaves, in the said office of the registrar of slaves: Provided always, that no deed or instrument shall be avoided or impeached by reason of a clerical error in setting forth the names and descriptions of any slave or slaves therein, or in any schedule thereto contained; nor shall the same be avoided or impeached by reason of any disagreement between the names and descriptions, and the entries thereof, in the books of the registry, or duplicate registry, which shall have arisen from any error or default of the registrar, his assistant or clerks, in extracting and certifying the said names and descriptions, without the fraudulent contrivance or wilful default of the parties to such deed or instrument: Provided also, that nothing herein contained shall extend or be construed to hinder or prevent the transfer or assignment of any security, mortgage, or charge, of or upon slaves, granted, made, created, or executed antecedently to the passing of this act; nor to avoid any deed or instrument, whereby such security, mortgage, or charge shall be hereafter transferred, nor to avoid, binder, or impeach any will, codicil, or other testamentary paper, or any probate or letters of administration, or any bill of sale, assignment, conveyance, or instrument, made by or under the authority of any commission of bankrupt, or any public officer appointed to assign or convey any insolvent estate and effects, or by or under the authority of any court of justice, or any officer thereof, or in the execution of any legal process, by reason that the registered names and descriptions of any slaves are not set forth in such deed, will, codicil, testamentary paper, probate of letters of administration, bill of sale, assignment, conveyance, or instrument; and also, that the issue of any slave or slaves, named or described in any deed or instrument executed in the United Kingdom, or any schedule thereto, born after the return required by law, in the colony in which such slave or slaves may be resident, who shall afterwards be duly registered in the next return required by law in the said colony, shall be deemed and considered to pass and be conveyed and affected as registered slaves by such deed or instrument, as effectually to all intents and purposes as if such issue were therein named and described, and any thing in this act contained to the contrary notwithstanding: now it is declared and enacted, that the said several enactments shall be and remain in full force and effect. § 37.

A governor de facto shall be a governor within this act.—Every act which the governor of any island, colony, plantation, or territory, belonging to or under the dominion of his Majesty, is by this act directed or authorized to do, may be lawfully done by the person executing, pro tempore, the office or function of governor, by authority from his Majesty, whether under the style and title of governor, lieutenant-governor, president of the council, or under any other style or title whatsoever. § 38.

All securities given in contravention of this act shall be void.— Every mortgage, bond, bill, note, or other security, made in or to accomplish any of the objects, or the contracts in relation to the objects, which objects and contracts have by this act been declared unlawful, shall, except in the case of a bond fide purchaser or holder of any such of the said securities as are in their nature negotiable, who may have purchased or obtained the same, without notice that the same were made or given for any such unlawful purposes, be void.

In what cases offenders shall be exempted.-If any person offending as a petty officer, seaman, marine, or servant, against any of the provisions of this act, shall, within two years after the offence committed, give information, on oath, before any competent magistrate, against any owner or part-owner, or any captain, master, mate, surgeon, or supercargo of any ship, who shall have committed any offence against this act, and shall give evidence on oath against such owner, &c. before any magistrate or court before whom such offender may be tried; or if such person so offending shall give information to any of his Majesty's ambassadors, ministers plenipotentiary, envoys, chargés d'affaires, consuls, residents, or other agents, so that any person or persons owning such ship, or navigating or taking charge of the same, as captain, master, mate, surgeon, or supercargo, may be apprehended, such persons so giving information and evidence shall not be liable to any of the pains or penalties under this act, incurred in respect of his offence; and his Majesty's ambassadors, ministers plenipotentiary, envoys, chargés d'affaires, consuls, residents, or other agents, are hereby required to receive any such information as aforesaid, and to transmit the particulars thereof, without delay, to one of the principal secretaries of state, and to transmit copies of the same to the commanders of his Majesty's ships or vessels then being in the said port or place. § 40.

Punishment for perjury.-If any oath taken under this act shall be wilfully false, or if such false oath shall be unlawfully or wilfully procured or suborned, the offender shall incur the like pains and penalties as are by law inflicted upon persons committing wilful and corrupt perjury, or subornation of perjury. § 41.

Slaves removed without observing regulations, forfeited, and penalty £100 for every slave and ship.-Where any slaves that may be lawfully removed shall be sent, removed, carried, or conveyed, without observing the regulations required by this act, such slaves shall be forfeited to his Majesty: and where any slaves shall be found on board, who shall be untruly or fraudulently described in the clearance or permit, with intent to violate or elude any of the prohibitions or regulations in this act, the owner, master, or other person by whom or by whose procurement such slaves shall be so untruly or fraudulently described, with such intent as aforesaid, shall forfeit £100 for every such slave; and also where the non-observance shall consist in exporting, sending, removing, carrying, or conveying, any slaves, (not being domestics or mariners, as in this act,) without such certified copy from the registrar of the colony, as by this act is mentioned, the ship or vessel shall be forfeited to his Majesty; and where the nonobservance shall consist in embarking or carrying any slaves without such certificate, the master shall forfeit £100 for every such slave. § 42.

Seizure of forfeitures, by whom made.-All ships, vessels, slaves, or persons treated as slaves, and all goods and effects that may become forfeited under this act, shall be seized by any officer of customs, or by the commanders or officers of any of his Majesty's ships or vessels of war, or any officers bearing his Majesty's commission in his Majesty's navy or army; and it shall be lawful for all governors or persons having the chief command, civil or military, of any of the colonies, settlements, forts, or factories belonging to his Majesty, and for all persons deputed and authorized by any such governor or commander

in-chief, to seize and prosecute all ships and vessels, slaves, or persons treated as slaves, and all goods and effects whatsoever that shall become forfeited for any offence under this aet. § 43.

Appropriation of ships and goods forfeited.-The proceeds of all ships and goods seized, prosecuted, and condemned for any offence against this act, except in such seizures as shall be made at sea by officers of his Majesty's ships of war, shall be divided as follows: that is to say, after deducting the charges of prosecution, one-third of the net proceeds shall be paid into the hands of such person as his Majesty may appoint, for the use of his Majesty; one-third part thereof to the governor or commander-in-chief of the settlement; and the other third part thereof to the persons who shall lawfully seize, inform, and prosecute; and in cases of seizures made at sea by officers of his Majesty's ships of war, one moiety, after deducting the charges of prosecution, shall be paid into the hands of such person as his Majesty may appoint, for the use of his Majesty, and the other moiety to the officers of his Majesty's ships of war, who shall have made the seizure, subject nevertheless to such distribution in the seizures, whether at sea or otherwise, as his Majesty shall think fit to order, by any order in council, or by any proclamation for that purpose. § 44.

Privileges of seizors.-All persons authorized to make seizures under this act, shall, in making and prosecuting any such seizures, have the benefit of all the provisions made by 4 Geo. III. c. 15, or any other act made for the protection of officers seizing and prosecuting for any offence against the said act, relating to the trade and revenues of the British colonies or plantations in America. § 45.

General issue and treble costs.—If any action or suit shall be commenced, either in Great Britain or elsewhere, against any person for any thing done in pursuance of this act, the defendant may plead the general issue; and if the plaintiff shall be nonsuited, &c. the defendant shall recover treble costs. § 46.

Limitation of suit for penalties and forfeitures.-All actions, suits, bills, indictments, or informations, for the recovery of any of the penalties, may be commenced within five years; provided that where any slaves have been, or shall have been, illegally imported, nothing herein shall extend to prevent proceeding to obtain the condemnation or forfeiture thereof, but the said slaves, so illegally imported, shall and may be condemned and forfeited at any time after such illegal importation. § 47.

Mode of trial for offences against this act.—All offences against this act committed in any place, other than this united kingdom, or on the high seas, or in any port, sea, creek, or place, where the admiral has jurisdiction, and which shall be prosecuted as piracies, felonies, robberies, or misdemeanours, shall be inquired of, either according to the ordinary course of law, and the provisions of an act 28 Hen. VIII. c. 15, intituled, An Act for Pirates; or according to the provisions of an act, 33 Hen. VIII. c. 83, intituled, An Act to proceed by Commission of Oyer and Terminer against such Persons as shall confess Treason and Felony, without remanding the same to be tried in the Shire where the Offence was committed, as far as the same act is now repealed;* or according to the provisions of an act, 11 & 12 Wm. III. c. 7, intituled, An Act for the more effectual Suppression of Piracy, in as far as the same act is now unrepealed; or according to the provisions

It should be unrepealed.

of an act, 46 Geo. III. c. 54, intituled, An Act passed for the more speedy Trial of Offences committed in distant Parts upon the Seas; and all persons convicted shall be subject to and suffer all such pains, penalties, and forfeitures, as by this act, or any law now in force, persons convicted of the same would be subject to, in case the same were adjudged within this realm, by virtue of any commission made according to the directions of the statute 28 Hen. VIII. § 48.

Offences committed out of the admiral's jurisdiction.—All offences against this act, which shall be committed in any place where the admiral has not jurisdiction, and not being within the local jurisdiction of any ordinary court of a British colony, settlement, plantation, or territory, competent to try such offence, may be inquired of, tried, and determined, under any commission to be issued according to the directions of the said act of 46 Geo. III. § 49.

Process and trial. -All offences committed against this act, may be inquired of, tried, determined, and dealt with, as if the same had been committed within the county of Middlesex. § 50.

Recovery and application of forfeitures and penalties.--Unless in cases specially provided for by this act, all forfeitures and penalties shall be recovered and applied as follows: that is to say, the several pecuniary penalties shall be recovered in any court of record in Great Britain, or in any court of record or vice-admiralty in any part of his Majesty's dominions, wherein the offence was committed, or where the offender may be found after the commission of such offence; and all seizures of ships, vessels, or boats, slaves, or persons treated as slaves, goods or effects, subject to forfeiture under this act, shall be recovered in any court of record in Great Britain, or in any court of record or vice-admiralty in any part of his Majesty's dominions in or nearest to which such seizures may be made, or to which ships or vessels, slaves or persons treated as slaves, goods or effects, (if seized at sea or without the limits of any British jurisdiction,) may most conveniently be carried for trial; and all the said penalties and forfeitures, whether pecuniary or specific, (unless where otherwise provided,) shall go to such persons, in such shares, and shall and may be recovered, distributed, and applied, in the like manner, and by the same ways and means, and subject to the same rules as any penalties or forfeitures incurred in Great Britain, and in the British colonies and plantations in America, by force of any act relating to the trade and revenues of the said British colonies or plantations, now go, and may now be sued, recovered, distributed, and applied in Great Britain, c. in the said colonies or plantations, under 4 Geo. III. c. 15, § 51.

After the recital of certain treaties, &c. for preventing traffic in slaves, that is to say, a treaty with Portugal, dated January 22, 1815; a convention to the treaty with Portugal, dated July 28, 1817; a passport for Portuguese vessels; instructions for British and Portuguese ships of war; regulations for mixed commissions, as to Portugal; a declaration as to Molembo and Cabinda, dated July 28, 1817; additional articles to the convention with Portugal, dated March 15, 1623; a treaty with Spain, dated September 23, 1817; a passport for Spanish vessels; the instructions for British and Spanish ships of war; the regulations for mixed commissions as to Spain; the explanatory article to treaty with Spain, dated September 23, 1817; an additional article to treaty with Spain, September 23, 1817; and a declaration explanatory of article to treaty with Spain, December 10,