engagement is made to Great Britain, by the other Contracting Party to the Treaty, that the prohibition shall be renewed against the importation of Slaves into Brazil under any other Flag than the Na-tive Flag of the Vessels belonging to that other Contracting Party.

As Brazil has adopted this Treaty as her own, and has thus put herself in the light of the Contracting Party in it, towards Great Britain, she cannot but allow that, under the spirit also of this Stipulation, the Trade to Brazil in Portuguese Vessels is now decidedly illegal.

If therefore any Case should again occur, of the admission of Portuguese Slave-vessels into the Ports of Brazil, you will not omit strongly to remonstrate against such transaction, grounding your remonstrances upon what I have above-stated, of the letter and spirit of those Compacts in this respect, which Brazil has now voluntarily acknowledged to be binding upon herself, and the express fulfilment of which Great Britain is entitled to require of Her. I am, &c, The Right Hon. Robert Gordon. GEORGE CANNING..

No. 43.-The Right Hon. Robert Gordon to Mr. Secretary Canning.— (Received March 1, 1827.)

SIR,

Rio de Janeiro, 8th December, 1826.

IN obedience to the directions contained in your Despatches of August and September last, I have the honour to acquaint you, that, on the 4th instant, I addressed the enclosed Note to the Marquis of Inhambupe.

Besides the 2 Cases mentioned in your Despatches, of the Carolina, and the Schooner Nove de Março, I have thought proper to include in my Representations to the Minister for Foreign Affairs, another most aggravated Case of infraction of the Slave-trade Treaties, which appears to have been countenanced by the Authorities at Maranham, and of which ample details have been furnished to this Mission by His Majesty's Consul at that Port. I have, &c.

The Right Hon. George Canning.

R. GORDON..

(Enclosure.) The Rt. Hon. R. Gordon to The Marquis of Inhambupe. MONSIEUR LE MARQUIS, Rio de Janeiro, 4th Dec. 1826.

IT has become my duty to call your Excellency's attention to several Cases, in which a most flagrant infraction of the Slave-trade Treaties appears to have been countenanced by the Authorities of Maranham; and I am induced the more earnestly to desire that the Brazilian Government will interfere to prevent these abuses, owing to their very frequent occurrence in that Province.

On the 9th of September last, Mr. Chamberlain represented to your Excellency, the fact of the Schooner Nove de Março, which had arrived from the Island of St. Jago with a Cargo of 86 Slaves, having been permitted to land them at Maranham, under a false entry from

Cabinda; but no answer has yet been received from your Excellency to this representation.

Since it was made, fresh information has been received from His Britannick Majesty's Consul, proving the illegality of the Voyage of the Schooner Nove de Março, and her fraudulent entry into that Port. Another case, in which the execution of the Law has been strangely departed from at Maranham, regards the fate and distribution of the Negroes found on board the Schooner Carolina; the freedom of these Negroes having been decreed by a Sentence of the competent Tribunals, in virtue of the Alvarà of the 26th of January, 1818, His Britannick Majesty's Government has learnt with sorrow, that, in evasion of that Sentence, many of them have been falsely reported as dead, and surreptitiously sent into slavery, whilst the greater part of them have been given to Planters, by whom they will be, doubtless, sent to work in Plantations, instead of being suffered to gain their livelihood in the Town, by exercising handicraft trades;-the lot of all being thus a return to slavery.

I am sorry to have to add, that another most glaring infraction of the Treaties has been permitted by the Authorities of Maranham in the Month of August last.

On the 13th of that Month, the Brazilian Brig Pedro Primeiro, belonging to Para, entered the Port of Maranham with 160 Slaves on board, and when, on the following day, a declaration was made to the President by His Britannick Majesty's Consul, respecting the illegality of her Voyage, he having certain information, that all the Slaves on board were from the Northward of the Line, and that the Brig in question had no regular Passport, she was nevertheless allowed to unmoor, and sail out of the Harbour the day after, without the slightest attention being given to the Representations of the British Consul, and even without regard being had to the proper Port Regulations;His Excellency the President, thereby screening these illicit Slave-dealers from the punishment which they otherwise would have met with, and countenancing, in a most unwarrantable manner, a direct infraction of the Treaties which he is bound to observe. The Pedro Primeiro has sailed for Para, where, it is to be feared, she will be admitted, and her Cargo sold, upon the plea of her coming from a Brazilian Port, although she can produce no clearance, in conformity to the 9th Article of the Custom-House Regulations.

Having called your Excellency's attention to these Cases, it is my duty to urge the institution of proper measures, for the purpose of preventing this continued infraction of the Slave-trade Treaties, and especially in order to induce an enquiry to be made into the Case of

the Carolina.

The British Government expect that the unfortunate Negroes who were found on board of that Vessel will be rescued from the Slavery

which seems to await them, and that the Individuals who have so unjustifiably abused the powers vested in them by the Sovereign of Brazil, for the purposes of humanity, will be speedily brought to condign punishment. The Undersigned avails himself, &c.

His Excellency the Marquis of Inhambupe.

R. GORDON.

No. 44.-The Right Hon. R. Gordon to Mr. Secretary Canning. (Received March 1, 1827.)

SIR,

Rio de Janeiro, 8th December, 1826.

I HAVE the honour to transmit to you the enclosed Memorandum, which I have received from Mr. Chamberlain, respecting the admeasurement of Vessels destined for carrying on the Slave-trade.

The Right Hon. George Canning.

I have, &c.

R. GORDON.

(Enclosure.)-Memorandum relative to Brazilian Slave-trade.

THE Slave Merchants of Rio de Janeiro are so impressed with the dangers attending an attempt to smuggle Negroes ashore upon the Coast, that none of them would venture to incur such a risk.

But they assert that the profits of the Trade are, even now (under the present mode of estimating Vessels for carrying Slaves), very small; and that if they were prevented from carrying at the present ratio, a great part of the Trade must cease.*

They do not, however, consider it likely, that the Government will consent to make the desired change in the mode of admeasurement: and if the Government did, they count upon being able, notwithstanding such Orders, to continue, by influence or bribery, to procure Certificates that will suit their purpose.

They moreover count upon the Government shutting its eyes to the practice, if it were to become known; and that even if legal measures were instituted against them, it would be done with great leniency; in other words, that no punishment would follow.

It is generally believed that, notwithstanding the present over estimate of Slave-tonnage, more Individuals are shipped in Africa than the Passport authorizes, with the object of filling up the vacancies caused by deaths during the Voyage, the duties being levied on the number shipped, and not on the number landed.

This species of smuggling is imagined to be common. It certainly happens in some cases that 1 or 2 more are found on board when the Ship arrives at Rio, than there ought to be. And in others, that the number of deaths reported is very small.

* This fact I beg leave to doubt. H. C.

The Revenue derived from the Trade is very considerable; the duty levied being, as I am informed, at the rate of something more than 36 dollars for each Individual shipped.

On the score of humanity, whatever may be said by this Government, I look for very little being done; as respects demurrage upon Ships improperly detained, we have the remedy in our own hands. H. CHAMBERLAIN.

Rio, 17th November, 1826.

SIR,

No. 45.-The Right Hon. R. Gordon to Mr. Secretary Canning. (Received March 1, 1827.)

Rio de Janeiro, 13th December, 1826. I HAVE the honour to enclose the Copy of a Note which I have received from the Brazilian Minister, in answer to my Representation to him, respecting the repeated infraction of the Slave-trade Treaties at Maranham, a Copy of which I forwarded in my Despatch of the 8th instant. I have, &c.

The Right Hon. George Canning.

R. GORDON.

(Enclosure.)—The Marquis de Inhambupe to the Right Hon. R. Gordon.

(Translation.)

Palace of Rio de Janeiro, 10th December, 1826.

THE Undersigned, Counsellor, Minister, and Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, acknowledging the receipt of the Note which the Right Hon. Robert Gordon, &c. addressed to him on the 4th of this month, has to answer him, upon the Case of the Vessels Carolina and Pedro Primeiro, of which the said Note makes mention, that the President of the Province of Maranhao has just been commanded forthwith to make known all the particulars relating to those 2 Vessels, in order that the necessary measures may be taken, with full knowledge of the Case: and as to the Portuguese Schooner Nove de Março, on the subject of which Mr. Chamberlain had made a representation, Mr. Gordon will see, from a Copy of a Note addressed to that ex-Chargé d'Affaires, that he was answered in due time. The Undersigned, &c. The Rt. Hon. Robert Gordon. MARQUEZ DE INHAMBUPE.

(Sub-Enclosure.)—The Viscount de Inhambupe to Mr. Consul-General Chamberlain.-(Translation.)

Palace of Rio de Janeiro, 26th September, 1826. HAVING written to His Most Faithful Majesty's Chargé d'Affaires, upon the subject of the Portuguese Schooner Nove de Março, which you stated in your Note of the 9th instant, to have left Cape de Verd with a Passport for Cabinda, but which you supposed had brought Slaves from Cacheo to Maranhao, the same Chargé d'Affaires has

just informed me, that all his information upon the matter was, that the said Schooner had left Santiago for Cabinda.

And as this affair is exactly similar to that of the Ship Orfeo, respecting which you also made a Representation, there remains nothing for me to do but to refer you to the Answer which I gave you, under the date of yesterday, upon a like subject. Mr. Consul-General Chamberlain.

VISCT. DE INHAMBUPE.

No. 46.-The Right Hon. R. Gordon to Mr. Secretary Canning. (Received March 1, 1827.)

SIR,

Rio de Janeiro, 21st December, 1826. I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your Despatch, marked Slave-trade, of the 22d of September last.

You will see by my Despatch of the 8th of December, that I have already made the Representations to this Government which you have required of me, upon the subject of the unfortunate Negroes, landed at Maranham from the Vessel Nove de Março.

Although the Answer from this Government, which I had the honour to forward on the 13th instant, is, in itself, unsatisfactory, yet I entertain confident hopes that Orders have been dispatched to Maranham, for the purpose of enforcing a more strict obedience to the Treaties, on the part of the Brazilian Authorities in that Province.

The Right Hon. George Canning.

I have, &c.

R. GORDON.

No. 47.-Arthur Aston, Esq. to Mr. Sec". Canning.-(Rec. March 30.)
SIR,
Rio de Janeiro, 10th January, 1827.

I HAVE the honour to enclose a Copy and Translation of a Note, which I have received from His Excellency the Marquis of Inhambupe, dated 4th instant, in reply to the Representation addressed to the Brazilian Government by Mr. Chamberlain (a Copy of which was forwarded in his Despatch of the 2d August last), respecting the illegal Slavetrade Licences, granted by the Authorities at Maranham, in the Cases of the Vessels Donna Maria Felicia, and the Amizade.

In explanation of the circumstances complained of in Mr.Chamberlain's Note, the Brazilian Minister states, that the Proprietors of these Vessels are Brazilian Citizens, established in business at Maranham, and that the Licences granted were strictly legal, being according to the Articles of the Constitution of the Empire, and without involving any infraction of existing Treaties. I have, &c. The Right Hon. George Canning.

ARTHUR ASTON.