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97. Mr. Sec2. Canning to Sir Chas. Bagot D. Mar. 13, 1826

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Receipt of No. 97.

440

Want of Netherlands Cruizers

441

441

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Netherlands Cruizers off Suri

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Licences to Slave-vessels. Ama-
ble Claudina. Charles
Netherlands Cruizers off Suri-
nam. Licences....

-} Licences to Slave-vessels...... 444

Licences to Slave-vessels. Vogel 445

-} Licences to Slave-vessels. Vogel 445 ·} Licences to Slave-vessels. Vogel 445

Ships furnished with Instruc-
tions.

SD. Dec. 15,

R. Dec. 18,

-} Receipt of No. 108

D. Dec. 29,

446

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112. Mr. Secr. Canning to Visc. Granville D. Mar. 14, La Jeune Caroline. L'Evelina 448

No.

Date & Receipt.
D. Mar. 20.

D. May 12,

113. Visct. Granville to Mr. Secr. Canning {R. Mar. 23, 114. Mr. Secr. Canning to Visc. Granville D. Mar. 28, 115. Visc. Granville to Mr. Secy. Canning R. Mar. 30, D. Mar. 27, 116. Visc. Granville to Mr. Secy. Canning {R. May 13, 117. Mr. Sec3. Canning to Visc. Granville D. May 16, 118. Visct. Granville to Mr. Secr. Canning {R. May 29, D. May 26, 119. Mr. Secr. Canning to Visc. Granville D. June 22, 120. Viset. Granville to Mr. Secy. Canning R. July 3, SD. June 30, 121. Visc. Granville to Mr. Sec3. Canning {R. Dec. 13, 122. Mr. Sec3. Canning to Visc. Granville D. Dec. 29,

1826}

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Slave-trade at Nantes. La Jeune
Caroline, and L'Evelina 449
Slave-trade at Nantes........ 449

-} Legislative Proceedings

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No. 1.-The Right Hon. F. Lamb to Mr. Sec". Canning.-(Rec. May 1.)
(Extract.)

Madrid, April 22, 1826.

I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your Despatches to the 25th of February, upon the Slave-trade.

All complaints on this subject are at present answered by a reference to the Orders recently transmitted to The Havannah. The Duke of Infantado declares his hope and belief, that these will be fully executed; and asserts the continuation of the determination of His Catholick Majesty to co-operate effectually in putting down this Traffick.

It has lately been represented to me, that Vessels have been fitted out at Cadiz, for the purpose of trading for Slaves on the Coast of Africa; but I have been deterred from speaking upon the subject to the Duke of Infantado, by the knowledge that their equipment was completed at Gibraltar. In confirmation of this, I enclose a Copy of a Letter from His Majesty's Consul at Cadiz to General Don.

The Right Hon. George Canning.

F. LAMB.

(Enclosure.)—J. M. Brackenbury, Esq. to the Lieut.-Governor of

SIR,

Gibraltar.

British Consulate, Cadiz, February 23, 1826.

I HAVE but a moment to save the Post, and must therefore briefly state, that, if your Excellency will be pleased to cause enquiry, whether a Vessel called the Cantabro be now in the Port of Gibraltar, you will find that she is completing her Outfit for a Slave Adventure.

454

She sails under French Colours, and belongs to a wealthy Merchant in this City, named Joaquim de Trueba.

Policies of Insurance are this day underwriting upon that Vessel; the risk from Gibraltar to the Coast of Africa, thence with a Cargo of Slaves to Cuba.

Your Excellency, upon this information, will, I presume, have no difficulty in causing search to be made.

The last Voyage which the Cantabro made was very quick, and very profitable to the Owner. So rapidly does she sail, that, having fallen in with one of our Cruizers on the Coast of Africa, with a Cargo of Slaves on board, she sailed her out of sight in a few hours. This fact was stated as an inducement to the Underwriters for the present voyage. I have, &c. H. E. General Sir George Don, Bart.

J. M. BRACKENBURY.

No. 2.-The Right Hon. F. Lamb to Mr. Sec". Canning.—(Rec. May 1.) (Extract.) Madrid, April 22, 1826.

AFTER the receipt of your Despatch upon the subject, I took an early opportunity of proposing to the Duke of Infantado, the removal of the Mixed Commission from Sierra Leone to the Island of Fernando Po. Having succeeded in disposing him favourably to the measure, I wrote to him upon the subject, and have the honour to enclose Copies of my Note, and of his Answer.

This not appearing to me sufficiently explicit, I applied to him on the 17th of April, before which day I had been unable to see him, after the receipt of his Note, to learn from whom he expected the further circumstantial details which he demands; and whether he thought of employing any Persons to procure them. He answered, that he did not; and that he expected them from the British Government: I then enquired to what points these details related, whether to the agreements to be made with the Inhabitants, and to the possibility of erecting habitations; remarking, that the practicability of these arrangements could only be ascertained by their execution. He replied, that these were the points to which his Note adverted, and that whenever I could notify to him that the Commission could be lodged on the Island, His Catholick Majesty would name a Commissioner to proceed there.

I then enquired whether, if my Government should wish it, he would give me these explanations in writing: he professed his readiness to do so.

The Right Hon. George Canning.

F. LAMB.

(Enclosure 1.)-The Right Hon. F. Lamb to the Duke of Infantado. Madrid, February 12, 1826. THE Undersigned, &c. is directed to state to His Excellency the Duke of Infantado, His Catholick Majesty's Principal Secretary of State,

that his Government has given due attention to the Remonstrances which have been repeatedly made by the Courts of Madrid and Lisbon, against the unhealthiness of Sierra Leone, as the Seat of the Mixed Commissions for the Suppression of the Slave-trade.

The provision of the Treaties is, that one only of each Commission shall sit within the Dominions of pain and Portugal, the other within those of His Majesty. The British Government has hitherto objected to the Proposals which have been made for the removal of the Commission to some more salutary Residence, only because the Places proposed to be substituted have been always under the dominion, and in the actual occupation, of one or other of the Powers proposing the change.

One Spot has at length been pointed out, which is not liable to this objection the Island of Fernando Po, in Latitude 3. 30. North, Longitude 8. 0. East, and wholly without any European Occupation. It is situated in the heart of the Slave-trade, its Climate is salubrious, and the Soil sufficiently fertile. There is reason to believe, that, by an amicable arrangement with the Natives (the only Inhabitants now upon the Island), some Situation, fitted for the reception of the Mixed Commission, may be peaceably occupied; and, if the Spanish Govern. ment concur in the suggestion, Great Britain will take upon herself the expence of their convenient Establishment. The Undersigned, &c. His Excellency the Duke of Infantado.

F. LAMB.

(Enclosure 2.)—The Duke of Infantado to the Right Hon. F. Lamb. (Translation.)

HONOURED SIR,

Palace, April 3, 1826. I HAVE communicated to His Majesty the King, my Master, the contents of the Note which you were pleased to address to me on the 12th of last month, relative to the Plan of transferring the Mixed Commission established at Sierra Leone, for adjudging such Cases as might arise in consequence of the Treaty, concluded in 1817, respecting the Abolition of the Slave-trade, to the Island of Fernando Po, as being a Quarter more salubrious than the above, and situated in a central point of the Traffick. In reference to this Plan, and to others in connection with it, proposed by the English Government, His Majesty is only waiting for detailed Information as to the possibility of realising the plan in question, before he accedes to the Proposal which forms the subject of your Note. In the mean time, I avail myself, &c. THE DUKE OF INFANTADO.

The Minister of His Britannick Majesty.

No. 3.-Mr. Secretary Canning to the Right Hon. F. Lamb. SIR, Foreign Office, May 6, 1826. I HEREWITH transmit to you, for your informatiou, a Copy of Papers, marked A. and B. relative to the Slave-trade, which have been

I am,

presented to both Houses of Parliament by His Majesty's Command, in the course of the present Session. The Right Hon. F. Lamb.

SIR,

&c.

GEORGE CANNING.

No. 4.-Mr. Secretary Canning to the Right Hon. F. Lamb. Foreign Office, May 31, 1826. I SEND to you the Copies of 3 Despatches which I have received from His Majesty's Commissioners at The Havannah, dated the 22d of February, and the 16th and 23d of March*, reporting the circumstances under which the Spanish Brigantines, Magico and Orestes, have been found on the Coast of Cuba, laden with Slaves from Africa. The Spanish Government cannot fail to fel painful regret at the cruel conduct evinced towards these unfortunate Negroes, by Subjects of His Catholick Majesty; and will, I hope, be induced to submit, without further delay, for the Signature of the King of Spain, the Additional Article referred to you in my Despatch of this Series of the 31st of January, the execution of which is calculated, more than any measure hitherto devised, to prevent similar atrocities.

I am, &c.

The Right Hon. F. Lamb.

GEORGE CANNING.

No. 5.-Mr. Secretary Canning to the Right Hon. F. Lamb. S:R, Foreign Office, June 30, 1826. By the enclosed Copy of a Despatch from His Majesty's Commissioners at The Havannah, dated the 15th April last+, it appears that a Royal Order of His Catholick Majesty has been published in the Island of Cuba, couched in the spirit, and to the purport, of the Decree which the Duke del Infantado announced to you as about to be passed, for the more effectual restriction of African Slave-trade Transactions connected with that Island.

You will express to the Duke del Infantado the satisfaction with which His Majesty's Government have seen this fulfilment of the expectation held out to you.

The Right Hon. F. Lamb.

I am,
&c.

GEORGE CANNING.

No. 6.-The Right Hon. F. Lamb to Mr. Sec". Canning.-(Rec. July 17.)
SIR,
Madrid, July 3, 1826.
IN compliance with the Instructions conveyed in your Despatch,
dated the 31st May, I have addressed to the Duke of Infantado the
Note, of which the enclosed is a Copy.

The Right Hon. George Canning.

I have, &c.

F. LAMB.

* Sce Class A, No. 63, 65, and 66, Pages 147, 156, 157. + See Class A, No. 69, Page 166.

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