"I forward to you the Translation of a Note, which Messrs. H. T. Kilbee and W. S. Macleay have addressed to me, in which they state what they have observed respecting the arrival of the Spanish Schooner Carlota, in ballast, proceeding from Bahia de todos los Santos, as announced in the Diario of this City, of the 15th instant, which I likewise enclose; which Vessel sailed from this Port for Princes Island, on the Coast of Africa, the 20th of July last Year; with the other matters to which those Gentlemen refer; enclosing also the Diario of the 21st of July of last Year, in order that, with all these before you, you may be pleased to direct the investigation of the Case, to determine what may be proper in conformity to the Treaty and Sovereign Orders upon the subject."

And I transmit this to you in reply to your aforesaid Note.
God preserve you many Years,

The British Commissioners.

FRAN. DION. VIVES.

(Enclosure 3.)-The Captain-General to the British Commissioners. (Translation.)

GENTLEMEN,

Havannah, June 30, 1826. THE Commandant of the Naval Forces on this Station writes to me, under date the 28th instant, as follows:

"Most Excellent Sir, An enquiry is now making into the circumstances, that may serve to shew the nature of the voyage of the Spanish Schooner Carlota, from the departure of the same from this Port on the 20th of July last Year, up to her return on the 14th instant, for the purpose of ascertaining whether there be any ground for suspecting that she has been engaged in the illicit Traffick in Slaves; and until I shall be enabled to communicate the result to your Excellency, I state this in immediate Reply to your Official Letter of the 23d instant, in which you enclose a Translation of that of Messrs. Kilbee and Macleay."

And I transmit the above to you, in reply to your Letter of the 22d instant, as I shall do whatever else may be communicated to me upon the subject by the said Commandant.

The British Commissioners.

God preserve, &c.

FRANC. DIONo. VIVES.

No. 82.-Mr. Secretary Canning to His Majesty's Commissioners. GENTLEMEN, Foreign Office, September 11, 1826.

IN reference to my Despatch to you of the 31st July last, I send to you the accompanying Extract of a Despatch, dated the 18th ult., which I have received from His Majesty's Envoy at Madrid*, on the subject of the Representation made by you, as to the evasion of the Order recently promulgated by His Catholick Majesty, for the more effectual Suppression of the Slave-trade in Cuba.

* See Class B.

N

You will lose no opportunity of collecting and transmitting to me accurate information, and supporting it, where you can, by collateral, in the absence of any direct, Evidence, of any facts whereupon His Majesty's Government might feel called upon to found Representations to the Government of Spain, as to the non-execution of the Treaty of 1817, and particularly on those points wherein the new Decree of The King of Spain shall appear to be illusory in its effect.

His Majesty's Commissioners.

I am, &c.

GEORGE CANNING.

No. 83.-H. T. Kilbee, Esq. to J. Planta, Jun. Esq.—(Rec. Oct. 14.) SIR, Havannah, July 30, 1826. THE state of my health rendering it necessary, as you will perceive by the enclosed Certificate, that I should try the effects of a more moderate Climate, I beg leave to apprize you of my intention to avail myself of the leave of absence for 2 Months, granted to me in your Letters of the 13th February, 1823, and the 6th February, 1824, to proceed to The United States.

I did not avail myself of this permission at the time it was granted, principally on account of the absence of His Majesty's Commissioner of Arbitration, conceiving that the Publick Service would be likely to suffer from the absence of both the British Commissioners at the same moment. This objection now no longer exists, Mr. Macleay being upon the spot; and I purpose, therefore, leaving The Havannah by the first Vessel which shall sail for New York.

I trust that this short absence from my Post, for the restoration of my health, after a constant residence here of 7 Years, will not be considered as precluding me from availing myself next Year of the permission to return to England, granted by Mr. Secretary Canning, and communicated to me in your Letter of the 10th December, 1825. I have the honour to be, &c.

Joseph Planta, Jun. Esq.

HENRY T. KILBEE.

(Enclosure.)-Medical Certificate.

I, THE Undersigned, Practitioner of Medicine, do hereby certify, that H. Kilbee, Esq. is labouring under general debility, and obstinate hernia humoralis, occasioned by a long residence in this Climate; and I am of opinion that a change of Climate will alone be likely to effect the restoration of his health.

Havannah, July 28, 1826.

WILLIAM D. CLARK, M. D.

No. 84.-W. S. Macleay, Esq. to Mr. Scc. Canning.—(Rec. Oct. 14.) (Extract.) Havannah, September 2, 1826.

IT is my painful duty to report to you an event, which I fear must tend to encourage the numerous Persons in this Island, who

are engaged in the Traffick of Slaves, beyond all their former expectation.

On the forenoon of the 16th ultimo, Captain Jackson, of His Majesty's Sloop Pylades, being in company with His Majesty's Schooner Magpie, under his Orders, chased a Vessel into this Port, which now proves to be the Spanish Schooner Minerva, a Vessel that His Majesty's Commissioners had the honour of reporting to you in their Despatch of the 16th of April of this Year, as having sailed for the Coast of Africa, on the 3d of April last.

Being convinced that she was a regular Slave-trader, he sent in after her an Officer, with Oiders to visit her, and then to report her arrival to the Captain-General and Commandant of the Naval Forces. Owing to the unfortunate circumstance of the two Lieutenants of the Pylades being at that moment on the Sick List, Captain Jackson was under the necessity of employing for this Service Acting Lieutenant Mr. Nott, who, on going on board the Vessel, found her occupied by a Spanish Officer and Guard.

Mr. Nott then reported her to the Flag Ship in Port, as a Slavetrader, and, on requesting permission to search her, was referred to Commodore Laborde, then said to be at his House in Town. On calling at the Admiralty, he was told to seek the Commodore at the Governor's, and, not finding him at the Government-House, he reported the arrival of the Minerva to some of the Officers in attendance on the CaptainGeneral, when one of them, apparently of rank, undertook to go immediately on board the suspicious Vessel, for the purpose of making enquiries into the truth of the Statement. He would not, however, allow Mr. Nott to accompany him.

After the Spanish Officer had returned from his visit to the Minerva, and had communicated with the Captain-General, he gave Mr. Nott to understand that His Excellency did not feel himself authorised to submit any information respecting her to Captain Jackson, until the Vessel had been officially reported to him by Commodore Laborde; Mr. Nott accordingly called a second time at the Admiralty, and, strange to say, was then told that the Commodore had gone into the Country.

Upon Mr. Nott's return to the Pylades, with intelligence so deeply implicating the good faith and publick conduct of the Chief Authorities of the Island, Captain Jackson ordered Lieutenant Smith, in His Majesty's Schooner Magpie, to come into Port for the purpose of gaining further intelligence. By this time, it was the general topick of conversation on the Wharfs, that the Minerva had actually upwards of 200 Negroes then on board. I have since, however, been given to understand, that, in the interval between Mr. Nott's departure for his Ship, and Lieutenant Smith's arrival in Harbour, two Boatsfull of Negroes were landed from the Schooner at Casa Blanca, a Village on the side of the Port opposite to The Havannah.

However this may be, Lieutenant Smith, on hearing the story current among the Merchants on the Wharfs, placed Mr. Nott in command of a Boat, so as to watch the proceedings of the Schooner, and, between 11 and 12 at Night, this Officer observed no less than 6 Boats leave her, crowded with Negroes, who were finally landed at one of the most publick Wharfs of The Havannah.

Lieutenant Smith, with the most praiseworthy activity, lost no time in acquainting both the Captain-General and Commodore of this disgraceful occurrence; Captain Jackson the following day came into Harbour, in order to report the whole of the circumstances to His Majesty's Commissioners; and, in the mean time, Lieutenant Smith having, by my advice, applied to the Commodore for permission to visit the Vessel, and obtained an Order for that purpose, found every mark of her just having landed a Cargo of Slaves.

Captain Jackson, on his arrival in Harbour, addressed a Letter to me, a Copy of which I have the honour to enclose, detailing the above circumstances, and I immediately transmitted his Letter to the CaptainGeneral, stating, at the same time, that the Minerva was reported in The Havannah Journals of April last as having sailed for the Coast of Africa, and calling upon him, in as respectful a manner as I could devise, to put the Spanish Laws, and particularly the Royal Order, in force against such audacious Delinquents. Anxious, however, not personally to displease him, I avoided, as much as possible, dilating on that part of Captain Jackson's Letter which so directly affects the responsibility of the Authorities, and told him, that I was convinced he would take the proper measures to cause the Treaty and Royal Orders to be respected; I thought it right to say, that, although the Minerva had not been brought before the Mixed Commission as a Seizure under the Treaty, she was obviously subject to the Spanish Laws; that, in fact, the proofs were complete against her, and that it only remained for His Excellency to put the Laws in execution.

Previously to delivering my Letter, of which a Copy is enclosed, I had called upon his Excellency in order to ascertain his feelings on the subject, and I learned from him, that, although he considered the Mixed Commission as having no concern with the affair, yet he was glad to have an opportunity of informing me, that, in obedience to the late Royal Order, he had submitted the whole affair to the Commodore; and, although he could not believe that the Minerva had landed any Negroes, he had, in consequence of what had been stated to him, issued the most positive directions to the Commissarios of the various Barrios or Wards of the City, to arrest any Negroes that might have been landed.

About this time, it appears that Captain Jackson thought proper, of his own accord, to address a Letter to His Excellency, requesting permission to search the suspicious Vessel.

The Captain-General, in reply to my Letter, transmitted Copies, herewith enclosed, of the Answer he gave to Lieut. Smith, on being informed by that Officer of the disembarkation of the Negroes, and also of the answer he made to Captain Jackson, on being asked by him for permission to seize the Minerva.

His Excellency then proceeds to state, that the Treaty confines all legal detentions to the High Seas, although he must have recollected that one of the Vessels lately condemned by the Mixed Commission was taken after having been run ashore on the Coast of this Island. He likewise says, that he has acted, throughout the whole affair, according to the Provisions of the late Royal Order; that he considers the assertion of Mr. Nott and the British Seamen, as to their having seen the Negroes landed, to be utterly incredible; that, although the Minerva is now reported from Porto Rico, and was formerly reported as having sailed for the Coast of Africa, there is no necessary inconsistency in the two Statements; and, finally, that I may depend on his attention to an affair, the cognizance of which concerns himself alone.

It is worthy of observation, that His Excellency carefully avoids any allusion to the remarkable facts set forth in Captain Jackson's Letter to me, of the Minerva having been reported to him by Mr. Nott immediately on her arrival, and of her having been then visited, not only by a Spanish Officer and Guard, but by one of his Excellency's own Staff.

On the receipt of his Excellency's Letter, of which a Translation is enclosed, I saw that the scenes of January, 1825, with respect to the Magico, which Mr. Kilbee has set so fully before His Majesty's Government, were about to be repeated, with the important difference, indeed, that the facts here were as notorious as noon-day, and the principal actors Persons in Authority in the Island. I accordingly addresed a Representation to the Governor on the subject.

To this Letter, of which a Copy is herewith enclosed, His Excellency has replied in a tone which has grieved me much; first, as it affords not the slightest hope of this Investigation under the Royal Order tending to any good; and, secondly, inasmuch as he shews great dissatisfaction at my interfering in the matter at all, and particularly at my blaming the conduct of those Officers who visited the Minerva on the 16th.

His Excellency, in this Letter, of which a Translation is enclosed, still avoids explaining the very extraordinary circumstances, of no measures being taken with respect to her on the day of her arrival, although reported to him, and visited by Spanish Officers and a Guard. He thinks proper to attribute the whole story of the Minerva being a Slave-trader to idle rumour: he denies that the Reports in the Diario" and "Noticioso" with respect to the arrival and departure of

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