(Class B,) presented to both Houses of Parliament by Command of His Majesty, 1826, and which arrived in His Majesty's Ship North Star, from Mr. Canning, on the 4th of August last, that I perceived in Mr. Vice-Consul Follett's Letter to Mr. Canning, dated Bahia, 25th January, 1825, that the duties payable on the importation there of each Slave, are 22,000 reis, a sum considerably above what I, in my Report in the Case of the Activo, allowed, without charges or commission: and I consider it my duty to enter into this explanation, in the hope that you, Sir, will make a representation to Mr. Canning on the subject, as there is a discrepancy in the amount of the same charge, in the Accounts of the Perpetuo Defensor and Activo which appears to me to require it. I further beg to state that you, Sir, being fully aware of the difficulties in this Colony which the Registrar has to contend with, to ascertain the truth of the charges made, in Cases where Restitution is decreed, will, I am convinced, make every favourable allowance for errors which will unavoidably happen, as in the Activo's Case, and that you will acquit me of partiality, either to Captors or Claimants, in the performance of my publick duties. I have the honour to be, &c. D. M. Hamilton, Esq. W. SMITH. No.46.-D. M. Hamilton, Esq. to Mr. See'. Canning.-(Reo. Dec. 22.) (Extract.) Sierra Leone, October 12, 1826. I HAVE the honour to transmit, herewith, the Report of the Case of the Brazilian Brig Perpetuo Defensor, whereof Antonio Mauricio de Mendonça was Master: she was seized by His Majesty's Ship Maidstone, Commodore Bullen, on the 18th April last, on her Voyage, as stated by the Master, from Molembo to Rio Janeiro, but, as proved to the Court, from Badagry, in 6. 18. North Latitude, to Rio Janeiro, with a Cargo of 424 Slaves. This seizure was made to the South of the Equator, and in sight of the Island of Anna Bona. On her arrival at Sierra Leone, on the 23d of May following, the Slaves on board were found to be in a most wretched state of suffering, from being afflicted with diarrhoea, dysentery, and small-pox, and it was deemed requisite, to prevent the introduction of the latter disease into the Colony, to place her under Quarantine; and in consequence of the representations of Commodore Bullen, and of the advice of the Colonial Surgeon, the sick and healthy Slaves were separated from each other, and the latter put on board one of the Government Colonial Vessels, then lying unemployed in the Harbour; this was done by order of the Colonial Council, the Acting Governor being absent at the time in the River Gambia. The cause of seizure, as alleged by the Captor, viz: the having a British subject confined on board as a Slave, was not considered by the Court sufficient to bring the Case within its jurisdiction, and the Captor was requested to proceed in the usual manner for a breach of the Con vention, but this he declined doing, and voluntarily restored both the Vessel and Slaves to the Master. The Master, not being satisfied with only receiving back his Vessel and Slaves, claimed from the Court, Costs, Damages and Expences, caused by the detention, and called on the Captor, by Monition, to proceed to Judgment in the Case; several Witnesses were therefore examined, who clearly proved the Slaves had been taken on board at Badagry in North Latitude, upon which the Commissioners (the Claimant having been deprived of his Slaves through the intervention of the Colonial Government,) thought it would be most eligible in every respect to adjudicate the Cause on the same principles as they. had decided that of the Activo, and therefore, as in that Case, gave the Claimant only a conditional Decree for the Value of the Slaves, and the greater part of the Demurrage, and awarded him, unconditionally, so much as to enable him to pay the expences he had incurred while the Cause was depending, and to refit and victual his Vessel for a Voyage to Rio de Janeiro. I have the honour, herewith, to transmit, for your information, the Copies of 3 Decrees made in this Case, one of which is a final one. The Right Hon. George Canning. D. M. HAMILTON. (Enclosure 1.)-Report of the Case of the Brazilian Brig Perpetuo Defensor, Antonio Mauricio de Mendonça, Master. THIS Brig, which was seized by His Majesty's Ship Maidstone, on the 18th of April last, to the South of the Equator, arrived in the Harbour of Sierra Leone on the 23d day of May, and was immediately put under Quarantine by the proper Officer, in consequence of her having several cases of small-pox on board. The Acting Governor of the Colony, Mr. Macaulay, being at that time absent on a visit to the Settlement in the River Gambia, the Colonial Council, considering the wretched and diseased state the Slaves were in, ordered, from motives of humanity, the healthy to be separated from the sick, the former to be put on board a Government Colonial Vessel at that time lying unemployed in the Harbour, to be kept there during the time they should remain under Quarantine, and a considerable number were in consequence immediately removed, with the assistance of Commodore Bullen, to that Vessel. 66 No proceedings, however, were taken in the Case till the 3d of June, when the Ship's Papers, with the Affidavit of Lieutenant Lyall, of the Maidstone, were brought into Court, and also the Declaration of Commodore Bullen, the Captor, in which he sets forth, that, on the 18th day of April, 1826, being off the Island of Anna Bona, he detained the Brig Perpetuo Defensor, sailing under Brazilian Colours, commanded by Antonio Mauricio de Mendonça, who declared her to be bound from Molembo to Rio Janeiro, with a Crew consisting of 54 men and boys, and having on board 424 Slaves, who all respectively de clared, by the assistance of an interpreter, that they were taken on board at Badagry, in 6. 18. North Latitude, about 12 or 14 days before seizure; that soon after boarding and examining the said Vessel, a person of the name of Cackau, confined as a Slave on board thereof, did claim from the Officer employed, British protection, as being a British Subject then and there held in slavery, and which protection was immediately granted by him the said Charles Bullen, by detaining the said Brig Perpetuo Defensor, and sending her up to Sierra Leone, to answer for detaining a British Subject on board as a Slave; that the said Vessel appeared to be perfectly sea-worthy, and was supplied with a sufficient quantity of water and provisions for the support of the said Crew and Slaves on their destined voyage to Rio Janeiro, but that no Log of any description had been found or produced by the Master, with the exception of the false one from Molembo." This Declaration is dated the 18th of April, 1826, on board His Majesty's Ship Maidstone off Anna Bona. Lieutenant Lyall, in his Affidavit, sets forth," that Commodore Bullen being duly authorized and empowered, according to the Provisions of the Additional Convention to the Treaty between His Britannick Majesty and His Most Faithful Majesty, to make seizure of Vessels under Portuguese Colours engaged in the Slave-trade, on the 18th day of April last, being off the Island of Anna Bona, they seized and detained the Brig or Vessel called Perpetuo Defensor, whereof Antonio Mauricio de Mendonça was Master, by reason that the said Brig had on board, confined, as in Slavery, a Person declaring himself to be a British Subject, and claiming British protection." In the Royal Passport, No. 408, one of the Ship's Papers, dated 29th of December 1825, it is stated "that the Perpetuo Defensor, of 212 tons, and carrying 54 men, Antonio Mauricio de Mendonça, Master, and Joao Alvez da Silva Porto, Owner, Subjects of the Empire, is bound to the Port of Bahia, and from thence to Cabinda, on the Western Coast of Africa, from whence she is to return to Rio de Janeiro; that the said Master and Owner are under an obligation to enter solely such Ports of the Coast of Africa, where the Slave-trade is permitted to the Subjects of the Empire." On the same day (the 3rd of June) an Affidavit of Edward Jeffreys, Surgeon of His Majesty's Ship Maidstone, was also brought into Court, wherein he deposed" that he professionally attended a Person of the name of Cacow, who was confined as a Slave on board the Perpetuo Defensor; that the said Cacow was removed from the said Brig on board His Majesty's Ship Maidstone for better attendance, where he expired on the 27th day of May last." On the consideration of these Documents by the Court, it was intimated to Mr. Lake, the Proctor of Commodore Bullen, that unless he proceeded against the said Vessel and Slaves for illicit Slave-trade, in conformity to the Additional Convention to the Treaty between Great Britain and Portugal, for the prevention of illicit Traffick in Slaves, the Court could not take cognizance of the Case: upor which intimation he refused to proceed further, and on the 13th of June offered to deliver up the Brig and Slaves to the Claimant's Proctor, Mr. Savage. On the 26th of June, a Petition of the said Mr. Savage, supported by his Affidavit, was brought into Court, alleging that he had received from Mr. Lake, the Proctor of Commodore Bullen, the Seizor, a written Communication, informing him, Mr. Savage, that he, Mr. Lake, on behalf of Commodore Bullen, was ready to deliver to the Master the said Brig and Slaves on board, and requesting him, Mr. Savage, to take immediate steps for taking charge of the said Vessel and Slaves: it was further alleged in the said Petition, that he, Mr. Savage, had endeavoured to obtain permission to communicate with the said Master, then on board the said Vessel, but in consequence of her being under strict Quarantine, he had not been able to do so, since the time of receiving instructions from the said Master to act as Proctor on his behalf, which was prior to his receiving the Communication from Mr. Lake as aforesaid; wherefore he prayed that the Cause of the said Brig might not suffer, by reason that through the said Quarantine he was withheld from communicating with the Master of her. On the 21st day of June, the Master of the Brig was released from Quarantine, and allowed to come on shore, and, on the 23rd, Mr. Savage brought into Court the Petition of the said Master, praying to be allowed to file his Claim, which was granted, and he, at the same time, brought in the Claim, with an Affidavit in support of it; on the same day he brought in the written Communication before-mentioned, from Mr. Lake to himself, wherein the former offers to give up the Brig and Slaves; also a Petition, praying a Monition against the Captor, calling on him to proceed to Adjudication, which was granted and issued on the same day. The Claim is "of Antonio Mauricio de Mendonça, the Master of the said Brig, a Subject of His Imperial Majesty The Emperor of the Brazils, for the said Ship, her tackle, apparel and furniture, goods, wares, and merchandize, and 424 Africans, or so many as were on board thereof at the time of capture thereof, by His Majesty's Ship Maidstone, Commodore Charles Bullen, C. B. Commander, and for the value of such Slaves as may have departed this life since the said capture, as the sole property of Joao Alvez da Silva Porto, an inhabitant of Rio Janeiro, as protected by the Treaty or Convention between His Britannick Majesty and His Most Faithful Majesty The King of Portugal, dated the 28th July, 1817; and for all costs, charges, losses, damages, demurrage, and expences, as have arisen or shall or may arise, by means of the capture and detention of the said Brig, and her Cargo the 424 Africans aforesaid." In the Affidavit in support of the same, the said Antonio Mauricio de Mendonça deposed to the truth of the matters and things contained in the said Claim, and also further deposed, "that the said seizure took place on the 18th day of April last, in the prosecution of the Voyage of the said Brig from Molembo, on the Coast of Africa, to Rio Janeiro, in the Brazils, and was brought to Sierra Leone; he further deposed, "that ever since his arrival in Sierra Leone he had been detained on board the said Brig, by reason of her having been placed under Quarantine, until the 21st day of June now past, and that he, the Deponent, had not before any opportunity to proceed in his business, and in the Claim for the said Brig and the Cargo and Slaves on board; that at the time the said Brig was detained as aforesaid, the Island of Anna Bona was about 8 miles distant, the said Brig being then to the South of the Equator, and in full view of the said Island." On the 25th of June, Mr. Macaulay, the Acting Governor, arrived from the River Gambia, and, on the 26th, the Master, Antonio Mauricio de Mendonça, was produced, sworn and examined on the general Interrogatories, but nothing came out in his examination material for the Captors; he swore that 473 Slaves were taken on board at Molembo from the Shore, and that 49 died previous to capture. On the 27th of June, the Court was informed, by command of the Acting Governor, that the said Brig was released from the Quarantine Regulations, and that the Government of the Colony would not provide, or ration the Slaves after that day. On the 29th, the Court received a Letter from the Colonial Secretary, stating, "that by command of the Acting Governor, he enclosed, for the information of the Court, a Letter addressed to him by the Prize Master of the Perpetuo Defensor, Mr. Tollervey, (an Officer of His Majesty's Ship Maidstone,) and drew the attention of the Court to the 32d Section of the Act of the 5th Geo. 4th Cap. 113, and requested to know whether the Commissioners considered that Claim to be applicable to the Court of British and Portuguese Mixed Commission, and, if so, to express the Acting Governor's desire that the Court would be pleased to give the necesssary instructions for carrying the same into effect." In the Enclosure, it is stated by Mr. Tollervey, that he having received directions from Mr. Lake, the Proctor for Commodore Bullen, to give up to the Portuguese Claimant the Slaves in the Perpetuo Defensor and the Susan Colonial Brig, on their claiming them on to-morrow, (the 29th of June,) that he therefore deemed it his duty to acquaint the Colonial Secretary, that from strong symptoms of discontent and anger manifested by the Slaves to-day, (28th,) on some Person on the part of the Claimants attempting to take their number in his absence, and the clamorous manner in which he was surrounded on his return, that the Susan would not be safe on his leaving her and the Perpetuo Defensor to-morrow (the 29th.) In the course of the day of the 29th of June, the Acting Governor and the Commissioners met, when the former observed, "that he conceived the Slaves on board the Susan had obtained their freedom by being on board a British Government Vessel, to which the Commissioners |