the particular case of Serafina, and have perused with pain and regret the statement presented therein of the cruel and unjustifiable conduct which has been practised towards her, and the Undersigned has in consequence been instructed to remonstrate, as he now does remonstrate, most strongly against the cruel and unjustifiable conduct in question. But the Undersigned has likewise been instructed to draw the attention of the Brazilian Government to the VIIth Article of the Regulations annexed to the Convention of 1817. By this Article it is provided, that the slaves shall receive certificates of emancipation from the Mixed Court; "and each of the 2 Governments binds itself to guarantee the liberty of such portion of the individuals as shall be respectively consigned to it." And the Undersigned, in further obedience to his instructions, has to require of the Brazilian Government, that the stipulation be carried into entire effect in respect to the unfortunate Negress Serafina. The Undersigned, &c. H.E. Senhor Paulino J. S. de Souza. HAMILTON HAMILTON. (Inclosure 2.)-Senhor Paulino de Souza to Mr. Hamilton. (Translation.) Palace of Rio de Janeiro, October 31, 1843. THE Undersigned, &c. acknowledges the receipt of the note dated the 14th instant, which Mr. Hamilton, &c. addressed to him, relative to the treatment of the Africans whose services have been hired out in the empire. That note being almost a repetition of the contents of that dated December 4th, 1841, which Mr. Hamilton Hamilton addressed to Senhor Aureliano de Souza e Oliveira Coutinho, the Undersigned has very little to add to the answer given by his predecessor under date of the 10th of the same month and year, to which the Undersigned now refers. Renewing, in the most formal and solemn manner, the protest made in that answer against the clear and literal violation of the VIIth Article of the Convention of the 28th July, 1817, and of the Regulations of the same date, in virtue of which the blacks emancipated by the Brazilian and British Mixed Commission are to be put at the disposal of the Imperial Government, the Undersigned avails himself of this occasion to declare to Mr. Hamilton Hamilton that this process is only in accordance with the duty of the Imperial Government not to acquiesce in any manner in the violation of the Treaties which it makes, and does not proceed from any interest or desire to introduce a greater number of such Africans into the country. The Undersigned cannot but express his surprise at seeing that Mr. Hamilton Hamilton still insists on the case of the African Serafina, which case was the subject of his note of the 30th of May last, as also of the answer which the Undersigned gave, dated the 27th June. The Undersigned regrets that, with a view to justify the violation of the 2 above-mentioned Articles of the Convention and respective Regulations, Mr. Hamilton Hamilton should have recourse to an assertion, based merely on the word of a black woman of bad conduct, and who wishes to avoid serving; an assertion which is contradicted by documents, and by information from respectable authorities. But if it be correct for Mr. Hamilton to continue to give credit to the word of such African, it is equally so for the Undersigned to refute it, and to give faith to the authorities who supplied him with the documents and information which served as a basis for his abovementioned answer of the 27th of June. As regards the wages of the Africans, they do not, as Mr. Hamilton Hamilton conceives, form a part of the revenue of the State, but are placed in the Treasury as a deposit, for the purpose of being applied in conformity to the instructions of the 29th of October, 1834, and the alterations of the 19th of November, 1835. The Undersigned, &c. Hamilton Hamilton, Esq. PAULINO JOSE SOARES DE SOUZA. No. 193.-Mr. Hamilton to the Earl of Aberdeen.-(Rec. Feb. 15, 1844.) You will receive by the present packet a communication in detail from Her Majesty's Commissioners of all that has passed recently in the sessions of the Mixed Court, with relation to the culpable procrastination which has occurred on the part of the Brazilian authoririties, in delivering to the liberated Africans found on board the condemned slave-vessels Paquete de Benguela and Asseiceira their tickets of emancipation. Her Majesty's Commissioners having kept me constantly informed of their ill success in endeavouring to rectify this most irregular proceeding, I considered it expedient to urge the Brazilian Government, in the note to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, of which I have the honour to forward a copy, to issue its mandate without delay for bringing into Court the aforesaid liberated Africans, in order to their receiving their respective certificates in the manner provided for by Treaty. An answer has not yet been returned, and I dare hardly anticipate a favourable one. I have, &c. The Earl of Aberdeen, K.T. HAMILTON HAMILTON. (Inclosure.)-Mr. Hamilton to Senhor Paulino de Souza. Rio de Janeiro, December 4, 1843. THE Undersigned, &c. has the honour to invite the attention of Senhor Paulino, &c. to the accompanying minutes, and extracts of minutes, as per margin, of late sessions of the Court of Mixed Commission. The subject matter of the discussions reported in these minutes, is the procrastination so remarkable in delivering their certificates of emancipation to the 592 Africans who composed the cargo of the 2 condemned slavers Paquete de Benguela and Asseiceira; the endeavours by Mr. Samo, Her Majesty's Commissary Judge, to terminate this delay, and the persistance of Senhor C. de Campos, the Brazilian Commissary Judge, that the certificates have already been delivered in due form, and that any further interference of the Mixed Commission in the present status of the aforesaid liberated Africans, is inadmissible, and encroaching on the prerogative of the Imperial Crown. The certificates of emancipation were forwarded, it appears, by the Mixed Commission to the Judge of Orphans, the Brazilian functionary charged with the care and superintendence of the Africans, accompanied by instructions for their distribution among these free persons. The instructions were not complied with; the documents in question being delivered over, not to the Africans themselves, but to the individuals by whom the services of the Africans were hired. But the VIIth Article of the Annex, No. 3, to the Convention of July 28th, 1817, states, "and as to the slaves, they shall receive from the Mixed Commission a certificate of emancipation, and shall be delivered over to the Government," &c. Therefore the letter and spirit of the Convention have, in this instance, been manifestly departed from. In order to give effect to the instructions of Her Majesty's Government on this irregular mode of proceeding, and to rectify it, so far as possible, Her Majesty's Commissary Judge in session recommended applications in the proper quarter for a declaration of the persons to whom the 592 Africans were delivered; and for an order to produce the said Africans before the Mixed Court, to the end that their respective certificates might be delivered to them personally, as provided for by the Treaty. But these recommendations of Her Majesty's Commissary Judge were considered inadmissible by his Brazilian colleague, although the latter entered into little or no explanation. But this refusal or reluctance has been since accounted for, by the clear and explicit admission on the part of the Judge of Orphans, that the certificates were all delivered, not to the Africans themselves, but to the hirers of the Africans; so that, neither as concerns those of the Paquete de Ben guela, nor those of the Asseiceira, have the provisions of the Treaty been scrupulously fulfilled by the Brazilian Government. The case of the Negro woman Serafina is one case in point. The Brazilian Judge of Orphans justifies the line of conduct he has pursued by reference to the tenor of the Imperial Instructions of October 29th, 1834; but with these instructions, the British Government, or their functionaries in this country, have nothing whatever to do directly. Had they been parties to them in any way, as Her Majesty's Commissary Judge remarks, there might be a clear case made out of blame, for the non-observance by the Brazilian Government of some of the provisions of their own decree. Senhor C. de Campos is pleased to reproach Mr. Samo for an excess of zeal in the difficult duties he has to perform. The Undersigned could have wished to perceive a similar excessive zeal on the part of the Brazilian Commissary Judge in carrying out the purposes and objects for which the Court of Mixed Commission was established. At all events seeing the strenuous opposition manifested by that Brazilian functionary to the measures proposed by his colleague to rectify the unauthorized procedure adopted by the Judge of Orphans in the delivery of the emancipation certificates intended for the Africans of the 2 slavers above-mentioned, it becomes the duty of the Undersigned to invite the Brazilian Government to interfere, and to issue an injunction that the aforesaid Africans may be forthwith brought into the Court of Mixed Commission, as moved by Her Majesty's Commissary Judge, in order to their receiving their tickets. of emancipation in the manner prescribed by the Article of the Treaty of July 28th, 1817, cited above. It is in conformity with precise instructions from the Queen's Government, that the Undersigned urges this demand most distinctly on the Brazilian Government. And the Brazilian Gevernment may rest assured Her Majesty's Government will not relinquish their claim to a full and perfect execution, as well in this particular as in all others, of the Slave Trade Conventions existing between the 2 Crowns. The Undersigned, &c. H.E. Senhor Paulino J. S. de Souza. HAMILTON HAMILTON. No. 194.-Mr. Hamilton to the Earl of Aberdeen.-(Rec. Feb. 15, 1844.) In addition to preceding communications of mine growing out of the unauthorized acts of the Brazilian Commissary Judge in adjudicating on the Dous Amigos slaver, I have the honour to transmit for your Lordship's information, copies of a note from the Minister of Foreign Affairs, announcing the decision of the Imperial Government to proceed, without further delay, to the execution of what they allege to be the sentence of the British and Brazilian Mixed Court in the case of that vessel, and of my answer, in which, supporting the opinions advocated in this matter by Her Majesty's Commissary Judge, I remonstrate against the execution of the said award as partial and imperfect. I have, &c. The Earl of Aberdeen, K.T. SIR, HAMILTON HAMILTON. No. 196.-The Earl of Aberdeen to Mr. Hamilton. Foreign Office, February 27, 1844. I HAVE referred to Her Majesty's Advocate-General your despatch of the 22nd November, 1843, and its inclosures, containing an account of the case of the schooner Vencedora, and of your correspondence with the Brazilian Government upon it. The Queen's Advocate has expressed his opinion that if the vessel in question hoisted no flag, and was destitute of papers indicating her nationality, as stated in your despatch, she might very properly have been sent to the Cape of Good Hope, there to be adjudicated upon. by the Vice-Admiralty Court, under the Act of the 2nd and 3rd Vict. cap. 73. But the Queen's Advocate has observed that, adverting to the letter of Lieutenant Cumming, the captor, bearing date the 12th October last, and addressed to Captain Willis, the Commander of Her Majesty's ship Frolic, he finds it stated by Lieutenant Cumming, that he directed the musket-shots to be fired a-head of the vessel, which she answered by hoisting Portuguese colours, and that he searched for papers which were carefully taken care of. Captain Willis also, in his letter of the 17th of the same month says, that the Vencedora hoisted Portuguese colours; and adds, that she had on board a Brazilian ensign much worn. Captain Willis further mentions the fact of papers being found on board. Considering that it would thus appear that the vessel not only had colours, but that she actually hoisted them before the capture was effected; considering also that she was furnished with papers, although such papers might not, in the opinion of Captain Willis, be sufficiently conclusive to afford her a claim to the protection of either Brazil or Portugal, the Queen's Advocate reports, that he cannot, especially without knowing the nature or contents of any of the papers found on board the Vencedora, take upon himself to say, that the case should not have been carried for adjudication before the proper Mixed Commission Court rather than before the British Vice-Admiralty Court at the Cape of Good Hope. Hamilton Hamilton, Esq. I am, &c. ABERDEEN. |