I am directed by Mr. Secretary Canning to acquaint you, for the information of Earl Bathurst, that a Copy of your Communication will be transmitted to His Majesty's Commissioners at Sierra Leone, for their guidance upon the points in question. In reference to your Letter of the 24th of September, 1826, I am, at the same time, directed to transmit to you the accompanying Copy of two Reports from His Majesty's Law Officers, upon the subject of the Ships Activo and Perpetuo Defensor, in which Cases it appears, that Slaves were, during Adjudication, declared by the Authorities at Sierra Leone, to have become free,-in one instance, in virtue of their landing upon a British Possession, in the other instance, in virtue of their being on board of a Government Vessel. And I am to request, that you will be pleased to lay these Papers before Earl Bathurst, for his Lordship's information and consideration, as to any Instructions which he may judge proper to issue upon the subject, for the guidance of His Majesty's Colonial Authorities at Sierra Leone. I am, &c. R. W. Hay, Esq. JOSEPH PLANTA, Jun. Enclosure 2. B.)— His Majesty's Law Officers to Mr. Sec". Canning. SIR, Doctors' Commons, 26th January, 1827. We are honoured with your commands, signified in Mr. Planta's Letter of the 11th of November last, transmitting two Despatches from His Majesty's Commissioners at Sierra Leone, detailing the circumstances which attended the Capture and Adjudication of the Portuguese Brig Activo, and also a Communication which has been received from the Colonial Department upon the same subject; and you are pleased to request, that we would take this Case into consideration, and report our opinion as to the Decision pronounced by the Authorities at Sierra Leone, in respect to the Slaves who escaped ashore, during the investigation of their Case, without awaiting the Decision of the Commissioners. In obedience to your commands, we have the honour to report, that with respect to the Slaves belonging to the Ship Activo, inasmuch as a sentence was duly pronounced by the Court of Mixed Commission, by which it was decreed that the Vessel and Slaves should be restored to the Claimant for the use of the Brazilian Owner, we are of opinion that the Authorities at Sierra Leone were bound to have taken measures to procure that Sentence to be carried into effect. It appears that a few days before Adjudication was made, the Slaves revolted against the Persons who had charge of them on board, and came on Shore, and were taken possession of by an Officer of the Customs, within the Colonial Jurisdiction, and that an application was made to the Deputy Governor by the Agent of the Captors, desiring him to give directions to deliver them up. This application was refused on the alleged ground, that no Slaves could be given up after being once landed in the Colony. The principle thus assumed, and which we think has been mistakenly borrowed from the Decision of the Court of King's Bench, in the well-known Case of "Somerset," the Negro, namely, that a Slave acquires his freedom, from the mere circumstance of his landing upon the soil of Great Britain, is, in our opinion, wholly inapplicable to the case of Slaves landing upon the Territory of the Colony of Sierra Leone, under the circumstances which give rise to the present question. We conceive that we need only remark, that the Convention between this Country and Portugal, and its annexed Instructions, have been recognized and adopted by the 5th Geo. 4. ch. 113, and that the Court of Mixed Commission, which has been established in the Colony of Sierra Leone, in pursuance of that Statute, is a Court of competent judicature, constituted for the very purpose of deciding on the legality of the capture or detention of Vessels with Slaves on board, brought in there for Adjudication, and whose express duty it is to decree restitution of those Vessels and Slaves which shall be found to have been captured and detained, contrary to, or not within, the provisions of the Treaty and the annexed Instructions. To apply the doctrine laid down in Somerset's Case, as an abstract or universal principle, to the case of the Slaves who landed at Sierra Leone, under the above circumstances, would involve the contradiction on the part of this Country, and in the Law itself, of establishing a regular Tribunal at Sierra Leone, bound by the faith of a Treaty, and by the positive directions of an Act of Parliament, to decree the restitution of them to the Claimant as Slaves, and as having been illegally captured or detained by a British Vessel, as the facts turned out, and at the same time of refusing to permit the Sentence itself, which gave the Claimant a judicial title to the Slaves, to be carried into effect. We have, &c. The Right Hon. Mr. Secretary Canning. CHRIST. ROBINSON. (Enclosure 2. C.)-His Majesty's Law Officers to Mr Sec". Canning. SIR, Doctors' Commons, 26th January, 1827. WE are honoured with your commands, signified in Mr. Planta's Letter of December 29th last, transmitting 3 Despatches, with their Enclosures, containing a Report of the Vessel Perpetuo Defensor, and the course taken by the Colonial Authorities in respect to the Slaves which were brought on board of that Vessel; and you are pleased to request that we would take this Case into consideration, and report our opinion thereupon. In obedience to your commands, we have the honour to report, that the Slaves put on board the Susan, before the adjudication of the Mixed Commission Court, in the Case of the Perpetuo Defensor, ought to have been delivered to the Claimant as a necessary consequence of that Sentence which decreed restitution of them. The only ground upon which the Local Authorities at Sierra Leone refuse to permit delivery of the Slaves to be made, notwithstanding the Sentence, was, that they had obtained their freedom from the circumstance of being on board a Government Vessel, but this ground is, in our opinion, untenable. We beg to observe that, in a Report, bearing the same date as the present, which we have had the honour of transmitting to you, respecting the delivery to the Claimant of Slaves belonging to another Vessel, called the Actico, after Sentence of Restitution, we have had occasion to state the grounds of our opinion, on a question involving the same principle as the present, more at large. We have, &c. The Right Hon. Mr. Secretary Canning. CHRIST. ROBINSON. CHS. WETHERALL. No. 5.-Mr. Secretary Canning to His Majesty's Commissioners. GENTLEMEN, Foreign Office, 26th February, 1827. I SEND to you, for your information, the accompanying Copy of a Letter, dated the 22d ultimo, addressed to one of the Under Secretaries of State of this Office, by one of the Under Secretaries of State for the Colonial Department. From this Communication you will perceive, that is the intention of His Majesty's Government, that the Mixed Commissions established at present at Sierra Leone, should be removed from thence to the Island of Fernando Po, so soon as the proper arrangements can be made for carrying this measure conveniently into effect You will be made acquainted in due time with the progress of the arrangement. In the mean time I have thought it right to inform you, that the measure is in contemplation. His Majesty's Commissioners. SIR, I am, &c. GEORGE CANNING. (Enclosure.)-R. W. Hay, Esq. to Joseph Planta, jun. Esq. Downing Street, 22d January, 1827. WITH reference to the Correspondence which has passed, upon the subject of removing to the Island of Fernando Po the Courts of Mixed Commission, which are now established at Sierra Leone, under the provisions of the Treaties with Portugal, Spain, and the Netherlands, I am directed by Earl Bathurst to acquaint you, for the information of Mr. Secretary Canning, that, in his Lordship's opinion, it is expedient that measures should now be adopted, for preparing for the arrangement [1827-28.] C in question for which purpose his Lordship proposes to despatch a small Vessel of War to Fernando Po, in order to prepare a suitable residence in that Island for the reception of the several Members of the Courts of Mixed Commission, and of the Slaves who shall be brought there for Adjudication, as well as Barracks for the accommodation of such Troops as may be necessary to protect the Establishment from the incursion of the Natives; and I am further desired to enclose, for Mr. Secretary Canning's information, a Copy of the Instructions, which, by command of His Majesty, his Lordship proposes to address to the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty upon this subject. Joseph Planta, jun. Esq. I am, &c. R. W. HAY. (Sub-Enclosure.)-Earl Bathurst to the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty. MY LORDS, Downing Street, 19th January, 1827. I AM to signify to your Lordships the King's pleasure that you select a Naval Officer of experience and discretion to proceed in a Vessel of War to Fernando Po, in order to take measures for preparing a suitable residence in that Island for the reception of the Courts of Mixed Commission, which are now established at Sierra Leone, under the provisions of the Treaties with Portugal, Spain, and the Netherlands. As the formation of this Establishment will be placed under the authority of the Governor of Sierra Leone, your Lordships will direct the Naval Officer, whom you may select for this service, to proceed in the first instance to that Colony, for the purpose of conferring with him upon the subject of the arrangements to be adopted for the execution of his Mission, in furtherance of which the Governor will be instructed to detach a Black Company of the Royal African Corps, together with an adequate number of artificers and labourers, as well as to lend every assistance which he may have it in his power to grant in building-materials and stores of every description, for the reception of which it will be necessary that a Transport should accompany the Vessel of War. Upon arriving at Fernando Po, the Naval Officer will proceed to select the situation which he shall find best adapted for the proposed Establishment, taking care to fix upon the place which shall appear to unite the greatest advantages in point of salubrity, and where the Vessels brought for Adjudication, and His Majesty's Cruizers employed in this Service, may most conveniently and safely resort. And if the ground, which shall be finally selected for the purpose, shall be in the occupation of any of the Native Inhabitants of the Island, their convenience must, as far as possible, be consulted in obtaining it, as it is His Majesty's special Command, that the Natives be treated with the utmost forbearance and kindness upon all occasions in which their interests, as Owners of the soil, shall appear to be involved, in the arrangements to be made for this Establishment. But you will strictly enjoin the Naval Officer not to enter into any Treaty or political Engagement whatever with those who may be in the exercise of any Official Authority in the Island. Your Lordships will further direct the Naval Officer to take the earliest opportunity which shall offer, after his arrival at Fernando Po, for transmitting home a Report of the assistance which he may have received on the Western Coast of Africa, for laying the foundation of the Establishment, and of what further means will be required by him for completing the service entrusted to him. He must also be directed to report to the Governor of Sierra Leone, whenever an opportunity may be afforded, the progress which he is making in the proposed undertaking, and he will be appointed Superintendent of this Establishment. The Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty. I am, &c. BATHURST. No. 6.-Joseph Reffell, Esq. to Mr. Sec". Canning.-(Rec. March 9.) SIR, Sierra Leone, 1st January, 1827. HAVING this day been sworn into the Office of Acting Chief Justice, and in right of which I have succeeded to the Situation of Commissioner of Arbitration, ad interim, in the Courts of Mixed Commission established here, vacant by the much-lamented Death of Mr. Hamilton; and His Excellency Sir Neil Campbell being too ill to attend to any business, I deem it my duty to inform you, that the melancholy event alluded to occurred on the night of the 28th ultimo, after many weeks' suffering from the consequences of long residence in this Climate. Mr. Hamilton's loss to the Service, which he had, up to the period of his illness, been actively engaged in, is generally felt throughout the Colony, and particularly so by the remaining Members of the Mixed Commission. I have the honour to be, &c. The Right Hon. George Canning. J. REFFELL. No.7.-His Majesty's Commissioners to Mr. Sec". Canning.-(Rec.Mar.9.) The number of Cases adjudicated under the British and Portuguese Commission was 8; 3 of which were Cases of Restitution, and the remaining 5 were Cases of Condemnation; and the number of Slaves emancipated was 1238. The number of Cases adjudicated under the British and Spanish Commission was 6, which were all deemed to be Cases for Condemnation. The number of Slaves emancipated was 961. |