tween the two Countries for the Suppression of the Slave-trade have I have the honour to be, &c. The Right Hon. George Canning. been given. CHARLES BAGOT. No. 110.-Mr. Secretary Canning to Sir Charles Bagot. SIR, I send, herewith, to your Excellency, for your information, the Copy of a Despatch, and of its Enclosures, from His Majesty's Commissioners at Surinam, dated the 25th September*, giving an account of the Measures which have recently been adopted in that Island for giving effect to the Decrees of The King of The Netherlands, as to the Registration of Slaves. Your Excellency will take a proper opportunity of expressing to The Netherlands Minister the desire of The King, our Master, that The King of The Netherlands should be made acquainted with the warm satisfaction which His Majesty has felt in learning these repeated proofs of the cordial co-operation of His Netherlands Majesty, in giving effect to the Compacts between the two Countries for the entire Abolition of the Traffick in Slaves. I am, &c. H. E. Sir Charles Bagot, G. C. B. GEORGE CANNING. FRANCE. No. 111.-Viscount Granville to Mr. Sec. Canning.-(Rec. Mar. 13.) I HAVE the honour to enclose the Answers that I have received to two Notes which I addressed to His Excellency the Baron de Damas, on the subject of French Vessels, under French Colours, trading in Slaves, and wherein I particularly signalized the Vessels Clarisse of Nantes, and the Deux Clementines. His Excellency, in thanking me for the Communication, informs me, that the French Government were already aware of the circumstances relative to the first-named Vessel, and, with regard to the other, that he had lost no time in transmitting my Communication to the Minister of Marine. I have, &c. The Right Hon. George Canning. GRANVILLE. (Enclosure 1.)-The Baron de Damas to Viscount Granville. MONSIEUR L'AMBASSADEUR, Paris, le 6 Mars, 1826. J'ai reçu avec la Lettre que votre Excellence m'a fait l'honneur de m'écrire le 1er de ce Mois, la Pièce qui l'accompagnait, et qui signale, See Class A, No. 110, Page 238. Je ne puis que remercier comme ayant été employé à la Traite des Noirs, le Navire La Clarisse, de Nantes, Capitaine Camin, et non Gamé. votre Excellence de cette Communication. déjà instruit des circonstances relatives à ce Batiment. Le Ministre de la Marine s'est empressé de faire prendre à cet égard des informations dont ses Instructions ne peuvent que hâter le résultat. S. E. Le Vicomte Granville. J'ai, &c. LE BARON DE DAMAS. (Enclosure 2.)-The Buron de Damas to Viscount Granville. MONSIEUR L'AMBASSADEUR, Paris, le 6 Mars, 1826. J'AI reçu la Lettre que votre Excellence m'a fait l'honneur de m'écrire le 1er de ce Mois; à laquelle étaient jointes différentes Pièces qui, entr'autres Navires Français prévenus de faire la Traite des Noirs, sur la Côte Orientale d'Afrique, signale particulièrement le Navire Les Deux Clementines. Je me suis empressé de transmettre ces renseignemens au Ministre de la Marine, avec invitation de leur la suite qu'exigent les circonstances qui y sont retracées, notamment dans la Déposition du Charpentier du Brick, L'Eleanor, John Hemston. S. E. Le Vicomte Granville. J'ai, &c. LE BARON DE DAMAS. No. 112.-Mr. Secretary Canning to Viscount Granville. MY LORD, Foreign Office, March 14, 1826. IN reference to my former Communications respecting the Slavetrade carrying on from the Port of Nantz, I now transmit to your Excellency an Extract of a Communication which I have received from the Admiralty, containing accounts of two Vessels, La Jeune Caroline, and L'Eveline, both belonging to Nantz, which have recently been met with by His Majesty's Cruizers upon the Coast of Africa, laden with Slaves, their Cargoes. Your Excellency will communicate these facts to the Ministers of His Most Christian Majesty, and urge them to take measures for preventing the success of these disgraceful undertakings. H. E. Viscount Granville, G. C. B. I am, &c. GEORGE CANNING. (Enclosure.)—Commodore Bullen to J. W. Croker, Esq. (Extract.) H. M.'s Ship Maidstone, Sierra Leone, Dec. 18, 1825. On the 23d of September, after a chase of 36 hours, I examined La Jeune Caroline, of Nantz, with a Cargo of 499 Slaves, bound to Martinique, and, on the 29th, the Redwing boarded L'Evelina, of the same Place, with 203 Slaves, on her way to Guadaloupe. J. W. Croker, Esq. CHARLES BULLEN. No. 113.-Viscount Granville to Mr. Scc". Canning.-(Rec. Mar. 23.) I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your Despatch, marked Slave-trade, of the 14th instant, and I lost no time in addressing a Note to His Excellency the Baron de Damas upon the subject of it. The enclosed is a Copy. I have, &c. The Right Hon. George Canning. GRANVILLE. (Enclosure.)—Viscount Granville to The Baron de Damas. MONSIEUR LE BARON, I HAVE the honour to transmit to your Excellency the Extract of a Communication, which has been received by His Majesty's Government, containing accounts of two Vessels, La Jeune Caroline and L'Eveline, both belonging to Nantz, which have recently been met with by His Majesty's Cruizers upon the Coast of Africa, laden with Slaves, their Cargoes. I avail myself, &c. H. E. The Baron de Damas. (Extract.) GRANVILLE. No. 114.-Mr. Sec". Canning to Viscount Granville. Foreign Office, March 28, 1826. By accounts from Nantz, dated the 21st instant, it appears that the prohibition against the sailing of Vessels from that Port, destined for carrying on the Slave-trade, has been of very short duration. H. E. Viscount Granville, G. C. B. GEORGE CANNING. No. 115.-Viscount Granville to Mr. Sec". Canning.—(Rec. Mar. 30.) Two Petitions, most respectably signed, were presented not long since to the Chamber, stating the increased and increasing activity of this Trade from the Ports of France; exposing, in forcible terms, the horrors which resulted from the disgrace which it attached to the French Flag; and representing the inefficiency of the measures at present employed by the Government for its repression. The Committee, which reported to the Chamber upon the Contents of this Petition, countenanced the object of it, (not, however, without conveying an insinuation against the purity of the motives of those who originally urged the Abolition of the Slave-trade) by proposing that it be referred to the President of the Council of Ministers. This proposition was strenuously supported by 2 of the Members of the Liberal Party, General Sebastiani, and M. Benjamin Constant, but M. Dudon, (a Ministerialist) after a speech, in which he inveighed against the hypocrisy of the English, and maintained that the Slave trade was carried on chiefly by British Vessels, moved the order of the day, and this Motion was adopted by the Chamber. I observed with regret that the French Minister, at the same time that he declared the sincere intention of his Government to abolish the Trade, and cited various Acts of the French Administration to prove that sincerity, expressed an opinion decidedly hostile to the enactment of any new Legislative Measure, imposing severer penalties on the crime of Slave-trading. I have, &c. The Right Hon. George Canning. GRANVILLE. No. 116.-Viscount Granville to Mr. Sec". Canning.-(Rec. May 15.) I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your Despatch, marked Slave-trade, of the 6th instant, enclosing a Copy of Papers, marked A. and B., relative to the Slave-trade, which have been presented to both Houses of Parliament by His Majesty's Command, in the course of the present Session. The Right Hon. George Cunning. I have, &c. GRANVILLE. No. 117.-Mr. Secretary Canning to Viscount Granville. MY LORD, Foreign Office, May 16, 1826. I SEND to your Excellency the Copy of a Communication received by the Admiralty from the Commodore of His Majesty's Squadron on the Western Coast of Africa, representing the prevalence of a practice, on the part of the illegal Slave-traders on that Coast, of providing themselves with a double Set of Papers, one of which is stated to be uniformly French, for the sake of defending themselves against the Cruizers of other Powers. Commodore Bullen brings forward the particulars of 4 Cases of this nature, which have recently come to his knowledge; and adds, that he can assert with confidence that 2 out of 3, of French Vessels boarded by his Squadron, within the last 6 months, have used this method for avoiding the punishment due to their illegal undertakings. The French Government will see that misunderstandings must arise between the Subjects of the 2 Nations, when, although under every feeling of respect to the French Flag, His Majesty's Officers meet with Vessels, furnished, under suspicious circumstances, with double Sets of Papers, one of which must necessarily be simulated; and on this account, as well as on the score of humanity and of respect to the Flag of France, His Majesty trusts, that His Most Christian Majesty will not be slow in taking what measures may be practicable, for preventing so flagrant an abuse of the French Flag and National ChaI am, &c. racter. H. E. Viscount Granville, G.C.B. GEORGE CANNING. (Enclosure.)-Commodore Bullen to J. W. Croker, Esq. (Extract.) H. M. S. Maidstone, Sierra Leone, Jan. 28, 1826. THE Conflict has also sent in the Dutch Brig Charles, with 266 Slaves, captured by her boats in the Old Calabar River, on the 19th ultimo. The circumstances under which this Vessel was detained must evidently tend more to convince their Lordships of the barefaced and open manner in which the Slave-trade is carried on under the Flag of the French Nation, which, it would appear, allows it thus to be insultingly made use of. On Mr. Deschamps, Admiralty-Mate of the Conflict, boarding her, she shewed French Colours and Papers, designating her the Eugène, of Nantz, and manned with Frenchmen and Americans. After leaving her he proceeded to examine 4 other French Vessels which were lying above her, and having received slight information of her being provided with 2 Sets of Papers, returned again on board, she still shewing French Colours and Papers; but, upon searching the Master's writing-desk, the Dutch Papers were found concealed, wherein she is called the Charles, of St. Eustatius. This must really point out to their Lordships the dupes that His Britannick Majesty's Ships are made of on this Coast, by these inhuman wretches, who escape detection merely by shewing a White Flag, and at the same time the painful restriction and trying circumstances under which a British Officer has to perform his duty, to prevent a misunderstanding arising between the two Governments, by which he might be called to an account; and it is with the utmost confidence I assert, that 2 out of 3, of French Vessels boarded by His Majesty's Squadron under my orders, within the last 6 months, have been invariably supplied with 2 Sets of Papers. As a proof, I have been since credibly informed, that La Félicité, boarded, with 200 Slaves, by the Atholl, and l'Eclair and Modeste, by the Brazen, the former with 169, and the latter with 269 Slaves, belonging to the same Houses as the Z and Venus, (both found with double Sets after capture, by myself and Captain Murray) were provided with them in the same manner. J. W. Croker, Esq. CHARLES BULLEN. No. 118.-Viscount Granville to Mr. Sec. Canning.-(Rec. May 29.) I HAVE to acknowledge the receipt of your Despatch, marked Slave-trade, of the 16th instant, and I have, in consequence, addressed a Note, of which the enclosed is a Copy, to the French Government, representing the nefarious proceedings of the Slave-dealers on the Coast of Africa, who, being provided with 2 Sets of Papers, one of which is stated to be uniformly French, thereby defend themselves |