EXPLANATORY and ADDITIONAL ARTICLES to to the Treaty between Great Britain and Spain, for the Prevention of the Traffic in Slaves.-Signed at Madrid, December 10, 1822. EXPLANATORY ARTICLE to the Treaty between His Majesty The King of The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and His Majesty The King of the Spains.-Signed at Madrid, Sept. 23, 1817. WHEREAS it is stated in Article I. of "Instructions intended for the British and Spanish Ships of Waremployed to prevent the illicit Traffic in Slaves," that "Ships on board of which no Slaves shall be found, intended for purposes of Traffic, shall not be detained on any account or pretence whatever." And whereas it has been found by experience, that Vessels employed in the illegal Traffic have put their Slaves momentarily on shore, immediately prior to their being visited by Ships of War, and that such Vessels have thus found means to evade forfeiture, and have been enabled to pursue their unlawful course with impunity, contrary to the true object and spirit of the Treaty above mentioned:— The High Contracting Parties. therefore feel it necessary to declare, and it is hereby declared by them, that if there shall be clear and undeniable proof that a Slave or Slaves has or have been put on board a Vessel for ARTICULO DECLARATO RIO del Tratado existente entre Su Magestad El Rey del Reyno Unido de La Gran Bretana é Irlanda, y Su Magestad El Rey de las Espanas.-Firmado en Madrid, á 23 Setiembre de 1817. ESTANDO estipulado en el Articulo I. de "las Instrucciones para los Buques de Guerra Españoles é Ingleses, empleados en impedir el ilicito comercio de Esclavos," Que "los Buques á cuyo bordo no se hallaren Esclavos destinados para el Tráfico, no serán detenidos bajo ningun pretexto ó motivo;" y habiendo acreditado la experiencia, que algunos Buques empleados en dicho ilegal Tráfico, han desembarcado momentaneamente los Esclavos que tenian á su bordo, inmediatamente antes de ser visitados por los Buques de Guerra, logrando por este medio evadirse de la confiscacion, y continuar impunemente sus ilegitimos procedimientos, contra el verdadero objeto y espiritu del referido Tratado : Las Altas Partes Contratantes creen necesario declarar, como por el presente Articulo declarán, Que si constare por una prueba clara é irrefragable, que hubiesen sido embarcados uno ό mas Esclavos en cualquier Buque con the purpose of illegal Traffic, in the particular voyage on which the Vessel shall be captured, then, and on that account, according to the true intent and meaning of the Stipulations of the Treaty, such Vessel shall be detained by the Cruizers and finally condemned by the Commissioners. This Explanatory Article shall have the same force and effect, as if it were inserted word for word in the said Treaty, and shall be held to form part of the same. In witness whereof, the Undersigned, furnished with Full Powers to that effect, have hereunto signed their Names and affixed their Seals. Done at Madrid, December 10, 1822. (L. S.) WILLIAM à COURT. objeto de Comercio ilegitimo, durante el viage particular en que fuere apresado, en tal caso, y en virtud de esta causa, segun el verdadero espiritu y sentido de las Estipulaciones del Tratado, el mencionado Buque será detenido por los Cruceros, y condenado por los Comisionados. El presente Articulo Declaratorio tendrá la misma fuerza y efecto que si estuviese inserto á la letra en dicho Tratado, y se considerará como parte del mismo. En fé de lo cual, los Infrascriptos, autorizados con Plenos Poderes al efecto, han firmado y sellado el presente Convenio, en Madrid, á 10 de Diciembre de 1822. (L. S.) EVARISTO SAN MIGUEL. ADDITIONAL ARTICLE to the Treaty between His Majesty The King of The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and His Majesty The King of the Spains.-Signed at Madrid, September 23, 1817. THE High Contracting Parties hereby agree, That in the event of the absence, on account of illness or of any other unavoidable cause, of one or more of the Commissioners, Judges and Arbitrators, under the above mentioned Treaty, or in the case of their absence in consequence of leave from their Government, duly notified to the Board of Commission sitting under the said Treaty, their Posts shall be ARTICULO ADICIONAL al Tratado existente entre Su Magestad El Rey del Reyno Unido de La Gran Bretana é Irlanda, y Su Magestad El Rey de las Españas.-Firmado en Madrid d 23 Setiembre, 1817. LAS Altas Partes Contratantes estipulan por el presente Articulo, Que en caso de ausentarse por enfermedad ú otra causa inevi table, uno ó mas Comisionados, Jueces, Arbitros, establecidos con arreglo al referido Tratado, ó sea que proceda esta ausencia de permiso dado por su Gobierno, y notificado en debida forma al Tribunal de Comision formado en virtud del mencionado Tratado, serán substituidas sus Plazas del PAPERS relating to the Slave Trade.-Presented to Purliament by His Majesty's Command, May 1823. No. Page 90 ...... Nov. 29, 94 94 1. The Duke of Wellington to Mr. Secy. Canning, Paris ........ Sept. 21, 1822 90 Incl. 2.-Procès-Verbal of the Conference C. Reply of the Prussian Plenipotentiaries D. Reply of the Russian Plenipotentiaries to ditto....... E. Resolutions agreed to in the Conference of November 28. .... 95 95 101 ... 102 ... 102 ... 105 107 109 (Extract.) No. 1.-The Duke of Wellington to Mr. Secy. Canning.-(Rec. Sept. 24.) Paris, September 21, 1822. I HAVE taken an opportunity of talking to the French Minister respecting the Slave Trade, and of urging him to adopt some effectual Measures for its repression. He stated that The King and the French Government were sincerely anxious to put an end to this Traffick; but that they could devise no Measures to produce that effect which they could hope would be adopted; that the Measure so often recommended to their attention by the British Ambassador at this Court,-that of attaching a Peine Infamante to the conviction of this Crime,-would be inefficient, even if passed into a Law. He said that he could not conceal from me the fact, that the Abolition of the Slave Trade was unpopular in France; and he begged me to observe, that the existing Law for the Abolition of the Slave Trade, was the only Law that had ever passed the Legislature without Discussion. I replied that I did not think we were called upon to point out to them the Measures which they ought to adopt, in order to carry into execution their own Engagements. That we stated the Measures which had been found most effectual in England and elsewhere, and we certainly had reason to complain, if no Measures were adopted by France, to carry into execution Her Engagements, the Decree of the King, and the Law of the Country. The French Minister said, that they had done, and would do, all in their power; that they maintained Cruizers on the Coast of Africa, and off Madagascar, for no purpose, excepting to check this Traffick, to which they were sincerely desirous to put an end. I told him that I should certainly draw the attention of the Allied Courts to this subject at the Congress; as they, equally with ourselves, were anxious for the total Abolition of this Traffick. No. 2.-Mr. Secretary Canning to the Duke of Wellington. (Extract.) Foreign Office, October 1, 1822. SINCERE as is the anxiety of His Majesty and His Government to devise all means which may tend in any way to the extirpation of that scandal of the Civilized World, the Slave Trade; and confident as I am, that your Grace will exert yourself, with the utmost alacrity and zeal, to impress upon the minds of the Allied Sovereigns and their Ministers, the duty of perfecting the Work of the Abolition, I confess that the Report which I have received from your Grace at Paris, has greatly damped the expectation of any decisively favourable result from the approaching Conferences. The refusal of France, not only to enter into any new Engagements, or to pass any new Laws for the Suppression of the Slave Trade, but Her neglect and apparent repugnance even to execute those by which She has already bound Herself, notwithstanding the too notorious continuance of that Traffick by Her Subjects, leave little hope that the authority of France will be employed otherwise at Verona than to prevent the adoption of any effectual Resolution. Every effort must, nevertheless, be made to bring the influence of the Congress to bear upon this most momentous Subject; and from the other Three Members of the Alliance, we may hope to obtain such a manifestation of opinion, as may show that their feelings, as declared in 1815, have undergone no change. The difficulty under which this Country now labours, in pressing the accomplishment of the Abolition, beyond what it experienced in 1815, arises partly from the lowered tone of sentiment throughout Europe, upon subjects appealing to the feelings of mankind, compared with that which prevailed at a moment of general excitement and enthusiasm; and partly from the notion, sedulously inculcated by other Powers having Colonies, that self-interest now mingles with our humanity; and that by our persevering efforts to bring about the Abolition in these Countries, we are only seeking to inflict upon the Colonial Possessions of our Rivals, a portion of the evils which the partial Abolition is alleged to have brought upon our own. Your Grace may confidently affirm, in reply to such insinuations, that among the causes which have contributed to the depression of Colonial Produce in this Country, so far is the Abolition of the British Slave Trade from being one, that its continuance would unquestionably have aggravated that depression, and its revival would be deprecated by no class of men, more than by the Colonists of Great Britain. But in proportion as the interests of that class of His Majesty's Subjects have been exposed to hazard, by the Legislature of this Country, in setting the example of the unqualified renunciation of a practice originally incorporated with the System of Colonies, and long supposed, however falsely, to be necessary to their existence (a renunciation dictated by considerations of a higher Order than have usually guided the conduct of States); in the same proportion is the British Government called upon to leave no effort untried to give effect to that example, and to take care that it shall not have been set in vain. At present, whatever may have been the advantage or disadvantage to the British Colonies, it is much to be feared that to Africa the Abolition by Great Britain has been injury rather than gain. The Slave Trade, so far from being diminished in extent, by the exact amount of what was in former times the British demand, is, upon the whole, perhaps, greater than it was at the period when that demand was the highest: and the aggregate of human suffering, and the waste |