115. Mr.Secy. Canning to H. M's. Comm's. D. May 28, 1924 Thetis furnished with Instrue tions 217 218 --- R. Fev 1825) D. Feb. 28, R. Oct. 19, D. Nov. 20, R. Dec. 13, ( Nov. 129. Mr. Secy. Canning to H. M's. Commrs. D. April 4, Vessels furnished with Instruc tions Memorandum. The Despatches received in this Country are placed according to the date of their receipt. The Despatches sent from hence are placed according to the date which they bear. SIERRA LEONE. (General.) No. 1.-Mr. Secretary Canning to His Majesty's Commissioners. GENTLEMEN, Foreign Office, June 9, 1824. IN reference to my Despatch to you, of the 7th of May last, I send to you, for your information, the Copy of a Letter from the Admiralty. stating that Orders have been given for enjoining the Officers employed under the Slave-trade Restriction Treaties, to attend to the purport of the suggestions which you had submitted in regard to obtaining Evidence, as to the number of Slaves that may be on board of captured Slave-trading Vessels at the time of their detention. His Majesty's Commissioners. SIR, I am, &c. GEORGE CANNING. (Enclosure.) John Barrow, Esq. to Joseph Planta, Jun. Esq. Admiralty Office, May 13, 1824. HAVING laid before My Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty your Letter of the 7th Instant, enclosing a Copy of a Despatch from His Majesty's Commissioners at Sierra Leone, in which they suggest that some directions should be given to His Majesty's Naval Officers, acting under the Treaties for the Prevention of the Slave-trade, in regard to the obtaining Evidence as to the number of Slaves that may be on board captured Slave Vessels, at the time of their detention; I am commanded by my Lords to acquaint you, for the information of Mr. Secretary Canning, that they have given Orders for enjoining the Officers employed in the Service alluded to, to attend to the suggestion of the Commissioners upon that point. Joseph Planta, Jun. Esq. I am, &c. JOHN BARROW. No. 2.-Mr. Secretary Canning to His Majesty's Commissioners. GENTLEMEN, Foreign Office, June 19, 1824. I HEREWITH transmit to you, for your information, six Copies of Papers marked A. and B. relative to the Slave-trade, which have been presented to both Houses of Parliament, by His Majesty's Command, in the course of the present Session. His Majesty's Commissioners. I am, &c. GEORGE CANNING. No. 3.-His Majesty's Commrs to Mr. Secy. Canning.—(Rec.July 14.) to make, upon the state of the Slave-trade on the Western Coast of Africa, since the last Report made to you on this subject by His Majesty's Commissioners on the 29th of April, 1823. The arrival of a new Governor-General from Portugal at the Cape de Verd Islands with a body of European Soldiers, about the commencement of last Year, gave hopes that a system of restraint would be commenced in those Islands, by the Government, against the illicit traders in Slaves. It has indeed been said that soon after the Governor-General's arrival, some Slaves were seized by his orders that were to have been shipped off the Island of Saint Jago for the purposes of Traffick; but we have not heard that this seizure was followed by any other act of vigour on the part of the Government against the illicit Slave-traders. We fear that the Government may have relapsed into its former supineness with regard to those traders, as reports have been very prevalent that the conveyance of Slaves from the Portuguese Settlements of Bissao, and Cacheo, and from the River Cazamanza to the Islands of the Cape de Verd still continues to exist. The Slaves from those Places are conveyed in small vessels to the Islands, are landed at some convenient place not far from the principal Towns into which they are subsequently conveyed, and kept in Depôt until an opportunity occurs for their being taken off the Islands by Slave Ships. The Persons employed in this sort of Traffic reside mostly at Porto Praya, the chief Town of the Island of Saint Jago; and, no doubt, they and their pursuits must be very well known to the Government of that Island. The former Master of the Portuguese Schooner "Conde de Villa Flor," that was taken off Bissao, laden with Slaves in the month of February 1822, by the Boats of His Majesty's Ship, Iphigenia, is very much concerned in this carrying Slave-Trade betwixt Bissao, Cacheo, and the Cape de Verd Islands. This Man is stated to be extremely active in the Trade. Irritated at the loss of his Vessel, the "Conde de Villa Flor," he is said to have declared his determination not to relinquish the Traffic. It is stated that he had intimated that the voyage of the "Conde de Villa Flor" in which she was captured, was to have been her last, and that it was his intention to have retired from the Trade, but that he is determined now, out of a spirit of defiance, to pursue the Slave-trade with all the means in his power. This Man is described as being intelligent, and as possessing some influence at Bissao, Cacheo, and the Cape de Verd Islands: his removal from these Places would be beneficial, and we hope that he may yet be removed under the provisions of the Portuguese Alvara relating to the illicit Slave-trade, the penalties of which might justly be applied to him for the share which he had in the affair of the "Conde de Villa Flor." Another carrier of Slaves betwixt Bissao and the Cape de Verd Islands is a Frenchman named Antoine Leger. This person was also concerned in the affair of the "Conde de Villa Flor." F This carrying Slave-trade can only be entirely suppressed by the Local Governments of the Places from whence and to which the Slaves are carried. And it will only be suppressed when a moral feeling shall have arisen amongst the Portuguese People which shall cause the Trade to be held in reprehension, by those Governments. It must be confessed that at present no such feeling seems to exist. Some of the Cape de Verd Islands are described as being capable of producing coffee, sugar, cotton, and most tropical fruits. The attention of the Inhabitants, it appears is but little turned to the cultivation of these articles. Some wine is produced in the Island of Saint Jago of a tolerably good quality. The rearing of stock, it is said, is attended to in the Island of Saint Jago. A great proportion of the Ships of all Nations bound to the East Indies, or to places in Africa or America, south of that Island, put into Porto Praya harbour for refreshments. The sale of these, however, is monopolised, it is asserted, by the principal Persons of the Island. The rearers of stock do not, therefore, dispose of it to the best advantage, and have not in consequence, all the encouragement that they would have, if permitted to sell their stock directly to the Ships. This circumstance is to be regretted, as it checks, in some degree, the industry in a laudable employment of that class of People. Some cotton cloths of their own manufacture, finely dyed by themselves, and handsomely worked with silk of various colours, which they obtain from European traders, are sold by the Inhabitants of the Islands, generally at a high price. The British Settlement of Bathurst in the River Gambia, as it increases in prosperity, will, in time, be the means of checking the Slave-trade, so far, at least, as the influence of that prosperity may extend. The exports from that Settlement are now considerable and consist chiefly of wax, hides, ivory and gold. To the southward of the British Settlement in the Gambia, are situated the Portuguese Settlements of Bissao and Cacheo. The Papers of the "Conde de Villa Flor" have shewn that it is not a single chance trader, who engages at Bissao and Cacheo in the Traffic in Slaves, but that that Traffic is regularly and systematically carried on by the Governors and Subordinate Officers of those Places. If we may credit reports that have prevailed from time to time, Vessels have sailed within this last Year from Bissao with Slaves directly to the Brazils. We see no reason to doubt the truth of such reports, well knowing the pertinacity with which the illegal Slavetraders adhere to their nefarious pursuits, and the great want of proper feeling on the part of the Persons in authority at Bissao, and Cacheo, in regard to the humane objects contemplated by the Convention with their Government. 1 In the Seventh Year after the conclusion of the Convention to prevent illicit Traffic in Slaves, it must be matter of great indignation, that a People owing obedience to the Laws of Portugal should pursue the Slave-trade in the very worst of its abominable ways. It is the practice of the people at Bissao, it is confidently asserted, to send armed Boats, or Canoes, about the Coasts and Islands in their vicinity, to surprise their Inhabitants and to carry them off to supply the wants of their Slave Market. This practice is, no doubt, often resorted to where the Slave-trade is legally pursued,-but it may be thought that where the Trade is proscribed it would not be dared to be carried on by Portuguese Subjects. In the course of the last Year some Boats from Bissao, it is said, landed at the mouth of the Rio Nunez; sacked some of the Villages there and carried off to Bissao, to be sold into Slavery, as many of their Inhabitants as they could take. Besides the barbarity of this practice, its consequence is, that the Natives within the reach of such kidnapping expeditions, are rendered savage and untractable, so much so that they are always disposed to deal harshly with such Europeans as may fall into their hands. The Natives of one of the Bisago Islands, which lie about the mouth of the River on which Bissao is situated, possessed themselves of a Boat with its Crew belonging to the Spanish Schooner " Joseph," condemned in the Mixed Court in the year 1822, which had incautiously approached the Island to obtain information as to the proper course to be pursued by the "Joseph" in order to reach Bissao. The Boat's Crew were, with some difficulty, after suffering great hardships, ransomed through the interference of the Governor of Bissao. Although this interference was in the end successful, we should think that the Natives were more swayed by interest in liberating the Europeans of the "Joseph" who were in their possession, than by a friendly regard for the Governor of Bissao; the difficulty with which the ransom was effected shews this to have been the case. It may be said by the Portuguese Authorities at Bissao, if they do not deny the fact, that it is not they nor those under their controul who pursue the system of kidnapping that has been mentioned, but that that system is pursued by the Natives near Bissao, over whom those Authorities have no power. Even should this be asserted, and the assertion be true, it is the demand for Slaves for exportation, which induces these independent Natives to pursue such a mode of supplying that demand. If the Authorities at Bissao did not themselves export Slaves, or allow them to be exported within the extent of their influence by others, these Natives would not have sufficient inducement to attack their neighbours for the purpose of enslaving them. We think that if the influence of the Authorities of Bissao and Cacheo were exerted to discountenance that Trade, as it is now exerted to encourage it, |