Vessels, are Official, because they are not headed with the words "De Officio," a title which I may, by the way, observe is only used for the Promulgation of Decrees, &c.

His Excellency further states in his Letter, that, although he continues to consider the assertion of Mr. Nott, and the Seamen of the Magpie, to be quite incredible, he has, nevertheless, transmitted to the Office of the Marine the proposition I made him, of examining these Witnesses of the disembarkation, on Oath: he finally denies that he has approved of that permission given by the Commodore to Lieutenant Smith, by which this Officer was able to ascertain that the Minerva had just landed a Cargo of Slaves, and objects to this Visit being made a precedent for any similar examination in future.

The style in which this Letter is written betrayed such displeasure at my interference, that I judged it right to assure His Excellency, that I had not exceeded my duty so far as in my Letter directly to blame him, although he must feel that it was my office to make a full statement to him of an event, in which the responsibility and veracity of British Officers were so much concerned; and, lastly, that I trusted the harmony which has hitherto existed between His Excellency and the British Commissioners would not be disturbed by this unpleasant Affair.

I have the honour to enclose a Copy of this Letter, together with Copies of the Letters written to the Captain-General, by Captain Jackson and Lieutenant Smith, which I have requested from those Gentlemen, in order to make the whole Correspondence on the Subject more complete.

It is with the greatest sorrow that I have now to acquaint you, that Lieutenant Smith and all the Crew of His Majesty's Schooner Magpie, except 2, perished at Sea, close off The Havannah, on the 27th ultimo, owing to the Vessel being upset in a squall; this melancholy accident has been a general subject of conversation, for some days past, in the City: I was, therefore, not a little surprized to receive a letter to-day from the Captain-General, requesting the attendance of Mr. Nott, and the 2 Seamen of the Magpie to give their evidence with respect to the landing of the Negroes; I have answered His Excellency, that Mr. Nott fortunately happens to be now on board the Pylades, but that he alone survives of the Boat's Crew, which witnessed the disembarkation.

Captain Jackson, however, has just informed me, that Captain Wade, the Master of the Mary Braide, a British Merchant Ship, trading between this Port and Liverpool, also witnessed the landing, and has declared his readiness to prove the fact on Oath before a Magistrate, as soon as he arrives in England.

From the various Letters of the Captain-General, and from the manner in which the Investigation, under the Royal Order, been

commenced, and is now carried on, I do not, I confess, anticipate otherwise than the acquittal of the Minerva, in which case The Havannah will appear to the Slave-traders to be at once the safest and most profitable Port for their Vessels to enter; the Government having, I fear, already too plainly shewn, that it only considers the Traffick in Slaves to be a crime when the Vessel has allowed herself to be captured at Sea by a British Cruizer.

I am naturally anxious, with respect to the view that you, Sir, may be pleased to take of my own conduct in this affair, but I trust that it will appear to you that I have endeavoured to make the strongest possible representation of the circumstances, without losing sight of that respect which is due to the Local Government. If I had suppressed any fact from the knowledge of the Captain-General, I should he utterly unworthy the Office I have the honour to hold, and yet, unfortunately, I could scarcely hope to state all the facts to him without giving offence.

The Right Hon. George Canning.

SIR,

W. S. MACLEAY.

(Enclosure 1.)—Captain Jackson to W. S. Macleay, Esq.

His Majesty's Sloop Pylades, Havannah, Aug. 17, 1826. YESTERDAY morning, in company with His Majesty's Schooner Magpie, I observed a suspicious Vessel off Cabañas, which was chased by us into this Port.

An Officer was immediately despatched after her, who went on board, and found there a Spanish Officer with a Guard; nevertheless his belief was strengthened that she had Slaves on board; he then went to the Flag Ship in Port, and stated that he believed her to be from the Coast of Africa, and requested permission and assistance to examine her; from thence he was referred to the Commander-in-Chief of the Naval Forces, residing at the Admiralty, where, on calling and stating the suspicions he had, he was directed to seek him at the Governor's; not finding him there, he submitted the particulars already stated, for the information of the Governor, to several Officers, one of whom, apparently of rank, proceeded with him to the Wharf, with a view of making further enquiry; he went on board the suspicious Vessel for that purpose, desiring the Officer to meet him at the Governor's, where he should be furnished with every particular that he was desirous of.

After the Spanish Officer had landed and communicated with the Governor, he gave him to understand, that His Excellency did not feel himself authorised to submit any particulars respecting the Vessel, for the information of the Captain of the Pylades, until she had been officially reported to him by the Commander-in-Chief of the Naval Forces, to whose Department the Case, as it at present rested, entirely belonged, and recommended him to acquaint the Commo

dore of the circumstances, but, on calling at the Admiralty Office, it was reported by the Officers in waiting, that the Commodore was in the Country. It then drawing towards sun-set, the Officer returned to this Ship.

Upon the receipt of this intelligence, I despatched Lieutenant Smith, in His Majesty's Schooner Magpie, into Havannah, to get every possible additional information in a circumstance so suspicious. He, on going on shore, found a rumour prevalent in the City, that the Vessel in question had brought into Port between 200 and 300 Negroes.

This Officer, in obedience to my Orders, placed a Boat, in which was an Officer belonging to this Ship, in such a situation as to observe the motions of the Schooner during the Night. Lieutenant Smith informs me, that, between the hours of 11 and 12, the Officer of the Boat observed no less than 6 Boats leave the Vessel, with a number of Negroes crowded in the bottom of each, who were finally landed at the Shipping Wharf, near the Church of San Francisco.

Lieutenant Smith also informs me, that he lost no time in acquainting the Captain-General and Commander-in-Chief of the Naval Forces of the whole particulars, and that he had permission from the Commodore to go on board and examine her, in company with his Aidde-Camp, when he had indubitable proof of her having had on board, and very recently landed, a Cargo of Slaves.

I have endeavoured to be exact in relating every circumstance relative to this Vessel, and am convinced in my own mind, and perhaps you will agree with me, of the impossibility of a Vessel arriving in this Port, hauling into a regular discharging Wharf, and finally disembarking upwards of 200 Slaves at that hour of the night, without the knowledge of the Police of this City. I, therefore, am of opinion, that the Vessel can be proceeded against by due course of Law, and have to request you will be pleased to adopt such measures as you may see necessary in this Case. And have, &c.

W. S. Macleay, Esq.

G. V. JACKSON, Commander.

(Enclosure 2.)-The British Commissioner of Arbitration to the Captain-General.

SIR,

Havannah, August 18, 1826. I HAVE the honour to transmit to your Excellency the Copy of a Letter, dated yesterday, which I have this moment received from Captain Jackson, Commander of His Britannick Majesty's Sloop Pylades, and from which it appears that, on the 16th instant, when in company with His Majesty's Schooner Magpie, under his orders, he chased a Vessel into this Port, which now proves to be the Spanish Schooner Minerva.

The circumstances under which she escaped from him were so suspicious, that Captain Jackson thought it his duty to remain off the Harbour, and to despatch an Officer of his Ship to visit the Vessel in Port, and afterwards inform your Excellency, and the Commander-inChief of the Naval Forces on the Station, of her arrival, in order that she might be searched by the proper Colonial Authorities, and that she might, if found guilty of a violation of the Treaty for the Abolition of illicit Slave-trade, be forthwith brought to condign justice. This Gentleman, on visiting her, having failed to get any intelligence from the Spanish Officer, who appears to have boarded her previous to his approach, proceeded, according to his Instructions, to state the affair to your Excellency, when one of the Officers, as he believes, of your Staff, most readily undertook to make an immediate Investigation on board, the result of which, however, is not known.

The British Officer, moreover, endeavoured to call the attention of the Commander-in-Chief of the Naval Forces to the suspicious Vessel, but was not fortunate enough to find him either on board his Flag Ship, or at the House of the Admiralty.

The appearance of the Vessel was, however, so decidedly indicative of her having been engaged in the illicit Traffick of Slaves, that Captain Jackson, in the evening, ordered His Majesty's Schooner Magpie to proceed into Port, in order to obtain further information. On his arrival in Town, Lieutenant Smith, the Commander of this Schooner, found it a matter of publick conversation, that the Minerva had, at that very moment, upwards of 200 Negroes on board. Governed, however, by his respect for the Flag of His Catholick Majesty, and the high authority delegated to your Excellency, and, moreover, considering the Vessel, in consequence of the previous information given to you by Captain Jackson, to have been necessarily examined, nay, knowing her to be even still remaining under the immediate inspection of the Spanish Officers, who had been seen on board, Lieutenant Smith refrained from detaining her while actually in Port, and bringing her as a British Capture before the Mixed Commission. He, therefore, contented himself with strictly observing her proceedings; the consequence of which was, that, at a very late hour of the same night, an Officer, and 2 men under his orders, saw 6 Boats put off from the Vessel, and, on approaching them, these Boats were observed to be crowded with Negroes, who were at length landed at one of the most publick Wharfs of The Havannah: having followed the Boats closely, the Officer and men say, that they are now ready to support this most important fact on oath.

I have further to remark that, according to Captain Jackson's Letter, it appears that Lieutenant Smith, who, by virtue of an Order from the Commandant of the Naval Forces, had authority to visit the Minerva yesterday afternoon, found all the peculiar and well

known marks of her having been fitted out for the Slave-trade. I observe in the "Noticioso," that the Vessel is there reported as having now come from Puerto Rico in ballast; but it appears from the "Noticioso" of the 4th April last, that she sailed from this Port for Princes Island on the 3d of that Month.

In short, I grieve to say, that this Vessel presents a clear and incontestable instance of the solemn Treaty between our respective Governments being notoriously violated under the very eye of the Publick Authorities, and of the late Royal Order of His Catholick Majesty being completely set at defiance.

It has been the invariable usage for the British Commissioners to represent to your Excellency every circumstance appearing to them to be an infraction of the Treaty, previously to performing their painful duty of submitting it to the consideration of His Majesty's Government; this course of proceeding I now follow, but I cannot avoid seizing the opportunity it affords of expressing my conviction, that so audacious a violation of the late Royal Order of His Catholick Majesty, and so open an insult to your Excellency's authority, when thus placed beyond all doubt by the Evidence of British Officers, cannot escape the most minute investigation in the proper Quarter; I am very far indeed from presuming to point out the line of conduct which the Government of this Island ought to pursue in an affair of this importance, but I may observe, that, although Captain Jackson has not brought the Minerva before the Mixed Commission, this Vessel, and the Negroes arrived in her, are still subject to the provisions of the Royal Order, as well as to anterior Spanish Laws; and the aversion which your Excellency has so lately and humanely declared yourself to bear towards this detestable Traffick, when connected with the anxiety which His Catholick Majesty has shewn to extinguish it, make me confident that, ere this, you have occasioned every measure to be adopted that the circumstances so imperiously require. I avail myself, &c. His Excellency the Captain-General.

SIR,

W. S. MACLEAY.

(Enclosure 3.)-The Captain-General to Lieutenant Smith.

(Translation.)

Havannah, August 17, 1826. I HAVE received your Letter of this date, in which you inform me of the disembarkation of various Negroes from a Schooner which entered this Port yesterday, when chased by His Britannick Majesty's Ship Pylades; the circumstances of this affair falling properly within the cognizance of the Commodore on this Station, I have transmitted, this day, your Letter to him, that he may take measures accordingly; and I have, moreover, given the necessary orders to the Petty Justices,