whether the Captor should be adjudged to pay the value of those Slaves or not. Upon mature consideration of all the circumstances of the Case, we came to the conclusion, that the Claimant ought to be paid the value of his Slaves, unless his having taken them on board to the North of the Equator should be considered a bar thereto, and we therefore thought the giving him a conditional Decree for their value, reserving the final decision of the Case for the British and Brazilian Governments, would be most equitable, and be a means of again drawing the attention of those Governments to the incongruity of the Convention in Cases similar to the present. I beg leave to observe, that, prior to our proceeding to Judgment in this Case, we proposed to both Parties, for the purpose of securing the liberty of the Slaves, that they should enter into an Agreement similar to the one entered into by the Captor and Claimant in the Case of the Sinceridade; but without effect. I beg leave further to observe, in consequence of so very considerable a time having intervened between the bringing the Case of this Vessel into Court and the final decision of the same, that, with the exception of the period from February 17th to March 6th last, while Mr. Rendall, the then Acting Commissioner of Arbitration, and Mr. Ma- * caulay, the Captor's Agent, were attending the late General Turner on the Sherbro' Expedition, and of the period from April the 23d to May the 9th, during which I was confined to my house with severe illness, every exertion was made by the Court to bring the Case to a conclusion. I conceive, Sir, I should be wanting in duty did I not state for your information, that this is the first Case that I am acquainted with of Slaves revolting in this Harbour, that have been brought therein for Adjudication, either in the Courts of Mixed Commission or in the Court of Vice-Admiralty. The Right Hon. George Canning. D. M. HAMILTON. (Enclosure.)-Supplemental Report of the Case of the Brig Activo, Jozé Pinto de Araujo, Master. On the 26th day of May, the Registrar finished his Report on this Case (A.) in which he gave it as his opinion that the Claimant was entitled to £55. for costs of suit; £256. 2s. 8d. for special damages and expences; £654. for demurrage; £9,983.15s. for the total loss of 166 Slaves; and £150. for 5 per Cent. on total of capital employed; making altogether the sum of £11,098. 17s. 8d. On the 8th of June, Mr. Savage, the Claimant's Proctor, prayed the Court to award to the Claimant, the sums stated in the said Report to be due to him, for the unlawful seizure and detention of the said Vessel, and for the total loss of 163 Slaves.-Mr. Lake, the Proctor of Captain Murray, the Captor, prayed the Court not to award the sum of £9,983. 15s. for the loss of the Slaves, inasmuch, as the said Slaves mutinied and rose upon the Crew in charge of the said Brig Activo, and forcibly made their way to the Shore; and were afterwards taken charge of by the Collector of Duties by the order of the Acting Governor.-The Court directed that the circumstances of the escape of the said Slaves from the said Brig should be more particularly detailed and brought before it, before it proceeded to make its award on the Registrar's Report; in pursuance of which, the Parties brought in and filed various Papers relative to the aforesaid circumstances, and on the 1st day of July the said Papers were read in Court, to wit-the Affidavit of Mr. Lake, the Captor's Proctor, (B.) wherein, among other matters, he deposeth and saith," that, on or about the 4th day of April last, Lieutenant Robert Lee Stephens, of His Majesty's Ship Atholl, and Prize-Master on board the Brig Activo, received a written order from Captain William Fitz-William Owen, of His Majesty's Ship Leven, to leave the said Brig Activo, and proceed on board His Majesty's Ship Romney, for a passage to England, at the same time taking the Prize Crew on board His Majesty's Ship Leven.-That, in consequence thereof, this Deponent sent on board the said Brig Activo, 6 men to take charge of the Vessel and Slaves; that, on the 29th day of April last, this Deponent did consider it for the benefit of the Captors, to call upon the Proctor for the Claimant to take charge of the said Brig and Slaves, by forwarding to Claimant's Proctor the following Letter, to wit: SIR, (1.) Water-Street, April 29, 1826. On behalf of the Captors of the Brig Activo, Louis Pinto de Araujo, Master, I beg leave to deliver you up the said Brig and Slaves on board, and I beg you will let me know as soon as possible when you will take charge of her and the Slaves. An early answer will oblige. I remain, &c. J. D. LAKE, for Captors. Wm. Henry Savage, Esq. Proctor for Claimants. "That thereupon, and in answer thereto, Deponent received from Claimant's Proctor the following Letter, to wit: April 29, 1826. In reply to yours of this date, notifying on the part of the Captors, that you beg leave to deliver up the Portuguese Brig Activo, and the Slaves on board; I have to state that I shall as early as possible lay your Letter before the Judges of the Mixed Commission, but that until that Court restores, in form, the said Vessel and Slaves, the Claimant cannot interfere with her or consider himself responsible either for her safety or the custody of the Slaves. I am, &c. J. D. Lake, Esq. Proctor for Captors. W. H. SAVAGE. "That, on the same day, Deponent forwarded to Claimant's Proctor the following Letter, to wit: Water-Street, April 29, 1826. I BEG leave to acquaint you, that, on behalf of the Captors, I am willing to enter into the same arrangement, as regards the Slaves on board the Activo, as was done in the recent Case of the Sinceridude, J. G. da Rocha, Master. I remain, &c. Wm. H. Savage. Esq. (4.) April 29, 1826. I ENCLOSE you a Copy of a Letter I have just received from His Honour the Acting Governor. And I beg to refer you to that part of the Regulations for the Mixed Commission, which directs 1s. to be paid for every day for each Slave on board, for the period the Vessel is detained, and to press on you to victual the said Slaves, (as I understand the Captors have for some time done,) as it is notorious that such victualling cannot here cost ls. each. If, however, you have any difficulty in so doing, I am willing immediately to sign with you a Petition to the Court to allow the Slaves to be landed, provided that such landing shall not affect the rights of the Claimant, and those otherwise concerned in them. MR. COLE, the Collector, having reported to me that there are no provisions on board the Brazilian Brig, for the Slaves; that, in consequence, they have become very riotous, and 21 of them have come on shore; I have to desire you will take immediate steps for supplying these unfortunate people with sufficient provisions. I am, &c. K. MACAULAY, Acting Governor. W. H. Savage, Esq. "That, during the said 29th and 30th days of April, and 1st day of May last, the said Slaves growing impatient at not being landed, and having, as this Deponent verily believes, been informed (by what means your Deponent knoweth not,) there was no likelihood of their being emancipated, did, by force and arms, escape from the said Brig Activo, and land in this Colony; that, on their landing in this Colony, they were immediately seized by the Acting Collector of Duties; that this Deponent applied personally to his Honour the Acting Governor for permission to replace the said Slaves on board the said Brig Activo, which permission his Honour the Acting Governor refused to grant, on the ground that they could not be dealt with as Slaves, being at large in this Colony; that this Deponent hath used all the diligence in his power to keep the said Slaves in the state they were brought in for Adjudication, and none of the said Slaves came on Shore with this Deponent's sanction or knowledge, save and except 6 Slaves, who, after being examined by the Court were safely placed on board again. And further, that this Deponent, having given notice to the Claimant's Proctor, that he, on behalf of the Captors, declined proceeding any further in the said Cause, did discontinue, on the 29th day of April last, to provision the said Slaves." The Affidavit of William Henry Savage, Claimant's Proctor, (C.) corroborating so much of the Affidavit of Mr. Lake as relates to the Correspondence between Mr. Lake and him, was also read; also the Affidavit of Mr. Thomas Cole, Acting Collector of Duties, and Assistant Superintendent of Liberated Africans (D.) wherein he deposeth and saith, " that, on or about the 29th and following day of the month of April last, he, this Deponent, (whose Office is situated contiguous to the Sea,) saw a number of Black Persons in a Boat pulling from the said Brig towards the Publick Watering Place of this Colony, where they landed; and, whilst standing on the Beach, he, this Deponent, sent one of the Clerks employed in the Liberated African Department, to ascertain who and what they were, when he understood they had forcibly made their escape from the said Brig, where they had been confined without a sufficient quantity of food being issued for their subsistence; that shortly afterwards he, this Deponent, reported the circumstance to Mr. Reffell, the Colonial Secretary and Chief Superintendent of Liberated Africans, in the absence of his Honour the Acting Governor, (who had not reached Town from his Country residence,) who directed this Deponent to take charge of and safely keep the said Persons who had so escaped on shore; that on the Deponent afterwards waiting on his Honour the Acting Governor, with the Colonial Secretary, who reported what had been done in this Case, the said Deponent received a verbal order from his Honour the Acting Governor, to treat the said Persons who had thus escaped, and were then on shore, in the same light and manner as emancipated Negroes, and that, in consequence, the said Persons were so dealt with accordingly. The Letter from the said Mr. Thomas Cole to the Registrar, (E.) stating the landing of the Slaves, and his taking charge of them, was also read; the Affidavits of George Springle, the Shipkeeper (F.) and Robert Leigh, his Assistant, (G.) were also read, setting forth the circumstances of the revolt and escape of the Slaves. The Affidavit and Petition of Joze Pinto de Araujo, (H.) stating that the Slaves had quitted the Vessel, was likewise read; and lastly, the Affidavit of Joze Pinto de Araujo and Furtunato Mina (I.) were read, who make oath and say, That, at the time the said Brig was brought into this Harbour for Adjudication, by His Majesty's Ship of War Atholl, James Arthur Murray, Commander, the Deponents, one other African, and a lad, were all the Persons of the said Brig's original Crew on board as aforesaid, who were brought up in the said Brig; that the remainder of the Crew, that 1 T is to say, the Pilot, Boatswain, Clerk, and 15 Sailors, were taken on board the Atholl, and Deponents believe left this Colony in the said Vessel, and that they never did again join the said Brig, after being taken out of her on the night of the day the said Vessel was so as aforesaid detained; that he, the said Master, was sick, without necessary provision, and did therefore come on shore as soon as possible after the arrival of the said Vessel in this Harbour, and more especially to be ready at all times to communicate with his Proctor relative to prosecuting the Claim for the said Vessel; and that he the said Master never had any command nor controul over the said Vessel or the Slaves on board, and that he was always obliged to conform to the Orders and Regulations of the Prize-Master until he came on shore. And the said Furtunato further says, that to his own personal knowledge, the Master nor any one of the Crew of the said Brig, had not any controul over the said Vessel and the Slaves on board after her arrival in this Port, nor since capture. And that this Deponent and another man alone continued always on board, the lad before-mentioned having quitted the Vessel soon after her arrival here, and the other man, an African, when the Slaves got on shore. And Deponents further say, that the means to controul the said Slaves were never in their possession or power, by reason of the Crew aforesaid having been taken away by the Capturing Vessel, and retained as part of her Crew." Whereupon the Commissioners absolutely and unconditionally confirmed so much of the Registrar's Report, as he stated his opinion the Claimant was entitled to, for costs of suit and special damages and expences occasioned to the said Brig by detention; but, for the reasons set forth in the Decree, (K.) only conditionally confirmed the remainder of the said Report, that is to say, they only confirmed the same in the event of the British and Brazilian Governments agreeing and declaring that the same ought to be confirmed, according to the true intent and meaning of the Convention between Great Britain and Portugal for preventing illicit Traffick in Slaves, but not otherwise. D. M. HAMILTON. (A.)-Registrar's Report of Costs, Damages, and Expences. To the trusty and well beloved the Commissary-Judges, named in the Mixed Commission established at Sierra Leone. WHEREAS by your Decree of the 9th day of May 1826, you pronounced the Brig Activo, Cargo and Slaves, to have belonged as claimed, and decreed the same to be restored to the Claimant for the use of the Owner and Proprietor thereof, with costs, damages, and expences, and referred the consideration of such costs, damages, and expences to your Registrar, and that he should report the amount thereof. Now I do most humbly report, that, having received an Account of the same brought in on behalf of the Claimant, and having taken the same, together with what was urged by the Agents of the Parties on both sides, |