the goodness to furnish us with a Copy of a Communication which he had received from the French Consul at Santiago de Cuba, respecting the re-capture, by a Spanish Slave Ship, of some Prizes which had been taken by His Majesty's Cruizers on the Coast of Africa. A report has reached us, that the British Crews of the Prizes had been murdered by the Spaniards, and, in the hope that it may be of some use in the investigation of this atrocious affair, we have the honour to enclose a Copy of the Communication referred to. We have, &c. The Right Hon. George Canning. H. T. KILBEE. (Enclosure.) The French Consul at Santiago to the French Consul Monsieur le Consul-Général, General. Santiago de Cuba, le 14 Déc. 1825. LA Frégate de S. M. B. L'Isis, appartenant à la Station de la Jamaique, est entrée dans ce Port avant hier. Je ne doute pas que sa Mission, qui dailleurs est restée fort secrète, ne soit relative à un acte de Piraterie, commis recemment sur la Côte d'Afrique par un Négrier Espagnol appartenant à ce Port, et nommé le Gavilan ou le Feliz, Capitaine Zagarra, armé de 14 canons, lequel a enlevé deux Bâtimens Négriers pris par les Anglais, l'un Espagnol appartenant aussi au Port de Santiago, et l'autre Portugais, et en a attaqué un troisième qui s'est échappé. Après cette capture, le Capitaine Zagarra s'empara de tous les Nègres du Bâtiment Portugais, et renvoya avec ce même Bâtiment les équipages Anglais, et vint débarquer les Esclaves sur cette Côte, et entra ensuite ici ainsi que sa prise le 28 du Mois dernier, comme venant de St. Thomas; les Armateurs se sont hatés de faire repartir les deux Bâtimens. Mon principal motif pour vous donner ces détails est, que pendant les Pirateries le Gavilan a arboré la flamme et le Pavillon Français, ce qui pourrait avoir donné lieux à des méprises ou à de faux rapports; mais je sais que les équipages renvoyés abord du Bâtiment Portugais n'y ont pas été trompés. Je ferai le même rapport à son Excellence le Ministre des Affaires Etrangères. J'ai l'honneur, &c. &c. S. DANNERY. P. S. Du 15 Décembre. J'ai tout lieu de croire que les Autorités d'ici se sont bornées à nier d'avoir eu connaissance des Pirateries du Gavilan, non plus du débarquement des Esclaves. Mons. Angeluci, Consul-Général de France à la Havane. S. D. No. 63.-His Majesty's Comm". to Mr. Sec". Canning-(Rec. April 3.) mander, having been captured on the 22d with 179 Negroes on board. The Mixed Commission could not in this Case proceed, as directed by Treaty, to receive the Depositions of the Master and some of the Crew of the Prize, the whole of them having escaped on shore before she was taken possession of by the Union; it was, therefore, judged necessary by the Court to summon the Officers of the latter for the purpose of corroborating, and, as far as was practicable, affording legal proof of the Statement made by the Commander, in his Affidavit, and in his Declaration of the state of the Prize at the time of capture; and also that the Commander himself should be requested to appear again, in order that he might be further examined respecting the inhuman conduct stated by him to have been observed by the Crew of the Magico towards the unfortunate Negroes. Lieut. Lowe, and two of his Officers, were accordingly examined, and their Depositions, together with the Ship's Papers, which most fortunately were all found on board, placing beyond the possibility of a doubt both the identity of the Vessel, and the fact that she had been engaged in the illicit Traffick in Slaves, no further delay was considered necessary, and Sentence of Condemnation was pronounced on the 31st ultimo. By these Depositions and Papers, it appears that the Magico, of which Don Joze Inza was Master and ostensible Owner, sailed from hence on the 26th June, 1825, for the Coast of Africa, where she arrived on the 16th August. She remained on the Coast until the 8th December, when she again sailed on her return from Grand Popoe; on the 20th of January, she was fallen in with and chased by His Majesty's Schooner Union, and having been brought to action in the course of the 21st, she was finally run ashore by the Crew on the morning of the 22d, near a point on the North side of this Island, called Manati, and shortly after taken possession of by the Union. The Crew previously escaped to land with, it is supposed, about 200 of the Negroes, and many of the latter that remained were found severely wounded, some were hanging on at different parts of the Vessel, and from 20 to 30 of their dead bodies were seen in the Sea; all this being evidently the result of the endeavours employed to force them to jump overboard and swin to Shore. The Crew even carried their barbarity so far as to leave a lighted match in the powder magazine. A Copy of the Declaration made by Lieut. Lowe of the state of the Prize at the time of capture; an Abstract of the Evidence taken; and Translations of the Sentence of Condemnation, and the Correspondence which passed between the Captain-General and the Mixed Commission, in the course of the Proceedings in this Case, are enclosed. In their Sentence, the Court have, in forcible terms, drawn the attention of the Captain-General to the inhuman conduct of the Crew of the Magico, suggesting the expediency of apprehending and punishing the Delinquents, as well as of collecting the Negroes who had been landed by them, and who are, as well as those found on hoard, fully entitled to the benefit of Emancipation. Of the 179 Negroes found on board at the time of capture, 3 died before disembarkation, and 1 immediately after, leaving the number emancipated 175. One of these, after his Certificate of Emancipation had been made out, was stolen while under the charge of the Person who had been named by the Captain-General to receive them from the Captor. The Mixed Commission did not fail to apprize his Excellency of this circumstance, and we understand that the most effectual measures have been adopted for the recovery of the Negro, the whole of the guard of Soldiers that was placed over them, and two other individuals, being now in prison as implicated in the transaction. The Magico is the Vessel respecting which a long Correspondence with the Captain-General was reported last Year, and the result of her present Voyage, similar in every respect to the former one, which was then under discussion, is the best justification of the strong assertions which His Majesty's Commissary Judge ventured to make to you in those Despatches. I have, &c. The Right Hon. George Canning. H. T. KILBEE. W. S. MACLEAY. (Enclosure 1.)-Declaration of Lieutenant Lowe. I, A. B. Lowe, Lieutenant and Commander of His Britannick Majesty's Schooner Union, hereby declare, that on this 22d day of January, 1826, being then in or about Latitude 21. 20. North, and Longitude 76. 40. West, I detained the Brigantine Magico, sailing under Spanish Colours, armed with 3 guns, 9-pounders, commanded by who declared her to be bound from with a men, boys, supercargo, passengers to Crew consisting of whose names, as declared by them respectively, are inserted in a List at foot hereof, and having 179 Slaves, said to be taken on board at I do further declare, that the said Brigantine appeared to be seaworthy, and was supplied with a sufficient stock of water and provisions for the said Negroes and Crew on their Voyage to her supposed destination near Havannah. I do further declare, that I chased her from the 20th to the 22d of January, 1826, when she ran ashore, somewhere near Manati, on the North side of Cuba, and landed, to the best of my opinion, at least 200 Slaves, before I took possession of her; at which time the whole of the Crew deserted her by going on shore, and were assisted by the Inhabitants, in my opinion, in landing the said Slaves; also, that when on the Bahama Bank, on the 21st of January, I brought her to action, in consequence of firing at His Majesty's Schooner Union, which lasted for better than half an hour, when she made all sail away, but still continued firing now and then from her stern chasers. It is with regret that I am in duty bound to mention the barbarity of her Crew towards those unhappy creatures, the said Negroes, having actually cut several of those Slaves, for the intention, I suppose, of making them jump overboard; to the best of my opinion, I saw 20, or 30 Negroes drowned alongside, laying at the bottom, and what is still more horrid to the feelings of a Christian, when she was taken possession of, there was a lighted match found in her Magazine of Powder, and very probably, had it remained there for a few minutes longer, the whole of those unhappy Negroes would have been blown up. Witness, W. W. WHITE, Mate. A. B. LOWE, Lieut. and Commander. A. HENDERSON BROWN, Surgeon. (Enclosure 2.)—Abstract of the Evidence in the Case of the Spanish Brigantine Magico. LIEUTENANT ALEXANDER B. Lowe declared, in his Affidavit, that he had captured this Brigantine in Latitude 21. 20. North, Longitude 76. 40. West, with 179 Negroes on board, and that he had found a tin case with the name Magico marked upon it, containing the regular Papers issued at this Port of Havannah, in the Month of June 1825, authorizing that Vessel to proceed to the Island of Saint Thomas, on the Coast of Africa, for the purpose of trading in Articles of lawful Commerce, but expressly prohibiting her from engaging in the Slavetrade. A Log-Book, kept by the Mate Sanchez, was likewise found on board, together with his Commission granted by Admiral Gaston, and several other Papers of little importance, all of which were produced. Lieutenant Lowe added, that he had not given to the Master of the Brigantine the Certificate, as directed by Treaty, because there was no such Master on board, nor indeed any White Person whatever, at the time of the capture. Upon a subsequent examination, Lieutenant Lowe deposed, that the Declaration of the state of the Vessel at the time of capture was drawn up after a form, which had been given to him for that purpose, and that the blanks in it had not been filled up, because no Master or Crew had been found on board; that it was from the freshness of the wounds, the parts of the body in which they were received, and the several dead bodies which he saw in the Sea, that he had inferred what he stated in the said Declaration, namely, that in the precipitate flight of the Crew they had forced many of the Negroes to throw themselves overboard, in the hope that they would swim ashore, but that he was not in possession of any facts to confirm his opinion; that, from the number of Negroes he saw on shore, he judged that they amounted to about 200, and that they were joined by several White Persons who had been, previously to the landing of the Negroes, near to two Huts apparently of Fishermen: that he did not himself see the lighted match in the Powder Magazine, but that it was shewn to him by one of his Sailors who found it there. Mr. George William White, Mate of the Union, deposed, that the Brigantine was seen by the Union on the 20th January, and immediately chased; that she was brought to action on the 21st, and at length captured on the 22d, near the Point Manati, after having been run ashore, the Crew and many Negroes having succeeded in reaching the land before the Schooner could come up; that he was ordered by his Commanding Officer to go on board the Brigantine, in which he found no White Person whatever, but a considerable number of Negroes, some of them wounded and several hanging on at different parts of the Vessel, from whence he inferred that they had forcibly been driven over-board: and this conjecture was confirmed by the circumstance of several dead bodies being seen at the bottom where the Brigantine was aground. That the Negroes in danger were immediately taken on board, and those wounded afforded every assistance; that the Ship's Papers were taken possession of and delivered over to the Commanding Officer; that the Negroes were numbered; and the Vessel having been got off, she proceeded to Sea under the command of the Deponent, as Prize Officer, and arrived at the Port of Havannah on the evening of the 26th; that immediately after he boarded the Prize, he ordered the Powder Magazine to be searched, and that a Sailor, named Benjamin Phillips, brought up to him a match still lighted, which was found in the same. Mr. George Crisp Dowers, Midshipman, serving on board the Union, deposed to the circumstance of the capture of the Magico, in the same terms as the last Witness; that he was not ordered on board the Prize until the evening of the day on which she was captured, from which time he remained in her until she arrived at the Port of Havannah, on the 26th of January. (Enclosure 3.)—Sentence of the Mixed Commission in the Case of the Magico.-(Translation.) THE Proceedings having been duly considered in this Cause, respecting the detention, effected on the Coasts of this Island, by the English Schooner of War, named the Union, Alexander B. Lowe, Lieutenant in the Royal British Navy, Commander, of the Brigantine Magico, with a Cargo of 179 African Negroes actually on board at |