Article are bound to serve their mothers' masters gratuitously up to of 20 years. the age III. The owners of female slaves are bound to provide for the board and education of such children as are born of them subsequently to the publication of this law, during the whole period of their gratuitous service. IV. The service of the children of females, as specified in Article II, shall cease whenever the person having a right to such service shall be compensated, either for the value of the remaining period of service according to the said Article, or for the expenses incurred for board and education as provided by the preceding Article. §. The Government, in concert with the Colonial Board, shall take such measures and frame such regulations as may be found necessary for determining the mode of compensation in such cases as may demand it, and with reference to the local circumstances, and to the different manners and customs. V. In sales or transfer of female slaves, either made by contract during lifetime, by testamentary dispositions, or by right of succession, the children of such slaves declared free by virtue of this law, and not exceeding seven years of age, shall always accompany their mothers. VI. The children of female slaves not exceeding the age of four years shall be delivered up to their mothers when the latter obtain their liberty, provided they wish to take them, and in that case the engagements contained in Articles II and III of this Law shall cease. VII. The owners of female slaves are also bound to maintain the children of the daughters of such slaves, provided that the mothers respectively are entitled to their maintenance, as specified in Article III of this Law. This engagement, however, on the part of the owners, shall cease as soon as their right to the gratuitous service of the mothers of such children ceases. VIII. The Boards of Guardians for slaves shall see that the provisions of this Law are faithfully carried out. IX. The Government are hereby authorized to create any establishments or associations, and to make the necessary outlay, in order to afford due protection to the children of female slaves mentioned in Article I, as well as to the effect that this Law may be fully and promptly executed. X. All Legislative enactments to the contrary are hereby revoked. We therefore command all the authorities to whom the knowledge and execution of the said Law may apply, to carry it out, and cause it to be carried out and observed as fully as contained therein. The Secretary of State for Marine and Colonial Affairs shall cause it to be printed, published, and circulated. Given at the Palace of Cintra, on the 24th July, 1856. VISCOUNT SA DA BANDEIRA. KING. (Royal Seal.) No. 362.-Mr. Howard to the Earl of Clarendon.-(Rec. August 11.) In my despatch of the 8th ultimo, I had the honour of transmitting translation of a Law of the 30th of June last, extending to the slaves belonging to the Municipal Chambers, and charitable institutions called "misericordias," in the Portuguese colonial possessions, the freedom stipulated by Article VI of the Royal Decree of the 14th of December, 1851, for all slaves belonging to the State. I have now the honour of inclosing a copy and translation of a further Law passed by the Cortes during the last days of the session, dated the 25th ultimo, and published in the official Gazette of the 30th of that month, likewise extending the same freedom to the slaves belonging to churches. I have, &c. The Earl of Clarendon. HENRY F. HOWARD. (Inclosure.)—Law providing for Freedom of Slaves belonging to Churches in the Dominions of Portugal.-July 25, 1856. (Translation.) DOM PEDRO, by the grace of God, &c. We hereby make known to all our subjects that the General Cortes have decreed, and we confirm the following Law: ART. I. The provision contained in the single § to Article 6, cap. 2, of the Decree of 14th December, 1854, is made extensive to the slaves belonging to churches. II. The provisions contained in Article 29 and its §, of the said Decree of 14th December, 1854, are applicable to the slaves. mentioned in the preceding Article. III. All Legislative enactments to the contrary are hereby revoked. We therefore command all the authorities to whom the knowledge and execution of the said Law may apply, to carry it out, and cause it to be carried out and observed as fully as therein specified. The Secretary of State for Marine and Colonial Affairs shall cause it to be printed, published, and circulated. Given at the Palace at Cintra on 25th July, 1856. VISCOUNT SA DA BANDEIRA. KING. (Royal Seal.) No. 363.-Mr. Howard to the Earl of Clarendon.-(Rec. Sept. 3.) MY LORD, Lisbon, August 26, 1856. WITH reference to my despatch of the 18th ultimo, I have the honour of inclosing a translation of the Law signed by the King of Portugal on the 18th instant, and published in the "Diario do Governo" of yesterday's date, providing for the freedom of all slaves entering, in Portuguese or foreign vessels, the ports or anchorage of the continent of Portugal and of the adjacent islands, as well as the Portuguese possessions in India and the city of Macao, or arriving in the continent of Portugal by the land frontier. The Earl of Clarendon. I have, &c. HENRY F. HOWARD. (Inclosure.)—Law providing for Liberation of Slaves on entering the Kingdom of Portugal.—August 18, 1856. (Translation.) DOM PEDRO, by the Grace of God, &c. We make known to all our subjects that the General Cortes have decreed, and we confirm, the following Law: ART. I. All slaves shipped on board of Portuguese vessels, on entering any port or anchorage of the Kingdom of Portugal, or of the archipelagoes of Madeira and of the Azores, shall be considered as free. II. All slaves belonging to foreigners, and landing in the above-mentioned Portuguese territories, shall also be considered free. Single §. With regard to claims made for the delivery of individuals comprehended in the two preceding Articles, to the commanders of their respective ships, the stipulations of existing Treaties shall be observed. III. The provisions contained in the preceding Articles are applicable to slaves entering the Kingdom of Portugal by the frontier. IV. The provisions contained in the two first Articles shall come into execution six months from the publication of this Law in the "Diario do Governo." V. The provisions of Articles I and II of this Law shall be observed in the territories forming the Indian State, and in the city of Macao and its dependencies. The term mentioned in Article 4, shall be extended to one year for these territories. VI. The Alvará of 10th March, 1800, and all Legislative enactments to the contrary, are hereby revoked. We therefore command all the authorities, &c. MARQUIS DE LOULE. JULIO GOMEZ DA SILVA SANCHEZ. VISCONDE DE SA DA BANDEIRA. KING. No. 366.-Mr. Howard to the Earl of Clarendon.-(Rec. Sept. 13.) WITH reference to my despatch of the 27th July last, relative to the contemplated abolition of slavery at Macao, I have the honour of transmitting herewith a translation of a further Portaria issued, on the 25th ultimo, by Viscount de Sá da Bandeira, the Portuguese Minister of the Marine and Colonies, and published in the official "Gazette " of the 1st instant, notifying His Most Faithful Majesty's commands that the Governor-General of the Portuguese possessions in India shall be instructed to lay before the Local Council the expediency of declaring slavery to be extinct de jure in those possessions, as it is stated to be happily extinct de facto, and to report upon the feasibility of such a measure, and upon the best means of carrying it out. I had some conversation, a few days ago, on this subject with Viscount de Sá, and he then told me that he likewise hoped to be able to take measures for the abolition of slavery in some of the Cape de Verd Islands, by adopting the same plan as had been followed in the case of Ambriz, viz., that of allowing an interval of a few months between the publication of the Decree of Abolition and the period fixed for its execution, by which means the proprietors of slaves were enabled, if they thought proper, to dispose of them previously, and the Government were relieved from the necessity of giving to such slaveholders a compensation which they could not afford. The Viscount's praiseworthy object is, by narrowing the circle of slavery as much as possible, to pave the way for its complete extinction in the Portuguese Colonial possessions. His Majesty the King having seen the despatch of the GovernorGeneral of the Indian States, dated the 2nd July last, in which he transmits a list of the slaves existing in those States, and registered in accordance with Article III of the Decree of the 14th December, 1854, declaring that these slaves, although by right they may be considered as such, yet, in point of fact, they are not slaves, inasmuch as their masters do not prevent them from going wheresoever they please; it appearing from this declaration that, without loss or inconvenience to the masters of these so-named slaves, slavery might be declared extinct de jure, as happily it is already extinct de facto, in the Portuguese possessions in India; His Majesty commands that the Marine and Colonial Department shall give instructions to the [1856-57. XLVII.] 3 N said Governor-General to lay before the Local Council this suggestion and to report as to whether it can be carried out, and also the best method for so doing. SA DA BANDEIRA. No. 367. Mr. Howard to the Earl of Clarendon.-(Rec. Sept. 13.) MY LORD, Lisbon, September 8, 1856. I HAVE the honour of transmitting herewith a translation of a note of the 4th instant, together with its inclosure, which I have received from the Marquis de Loulé in reply to the notes addressed to his predecessor, the Viscount d'Athoguia, by Sir Richard Pakenham on the 19th of January, 1855, and by myself on the 25th of February, 28th of March, and 14th of April of this year, as reported by Sir Richard Pakenham in his despatch of the 19th January, 1855, and by myself in my despatches of the 28th of February, of the 28th of March, and of the 18th of April last, to your Lordship, urging upon the Portuguese Government the observance of the stipulations of Article V of the Treaty of the 3rd of July, 1842, between Great Britain and Portugal, for the suppression of the Slave Trade, and the transmission of orders to the Governor-General of Angola not in future to allow settlers removing from the territories under his administration to the Portuguese possessions off the coast of Africa to take with them other slaves within the specified number than such as are their bona fide household servants according to the terms of that Article. In this note the Marquis de Loulé incloses a copy of the report of the Colonial Board upon the subject of the above-mentioned notes of Her Majesty's Legation, and states that instructions were for warded by the last mail to Count Lavradio to come to an understanding with Her Majesty's Government on each of the seven points of the report, with a view to the definitive settlement of the matter in question, and to the transmission of the proper orders to the Portuguese authorities in the transmarine provinces. From the first point your Lordship will perceive that the Colonial Board propose the adoption of the interpretation by Her Majesty's Government of Article V of the Treaty of July, 1842. The second point relates to the precautions to be observed in respect to the shipment of liberated negroes from Angola for the islands of St. Thomas and Prince. The third point contains the opinion of the Board that the con veyance of slaves by sea, from one part of the continent to another, within the same colony, should not be admitted as constituting an infraction of the Treaty, but that certain specified precautions should be taken to prevent abuses. The fourth and fifth points relate to the conveyance of liberated |