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The demand conveyed in Mr. Lefroy's Letter of the 4th of May 1822, addressed to the Fiscal at Paramaribo, extended far beyond the purport of the Note of Lord Clancarty of the 26th of February, 1821.

The Note of Lord Clancarty related only to Cases established in proof on the authorized Proceedings of the Commission. The Case in question was of a nature to which the judicial duties of Mr. Lefroy did not extend: and the demand made could not be supported, as to an offence committed against the Laws of the Colony.

In cases similar to that in question, you will be careful to limit your interference to the communicating information to the Local Authorities, with a request, made, as it were, extra-officially, that the Laws of the Colony may be enforced against the Offenders. You will bear in mind that your functions as Judges and Arbitrators are limited to the jurisdiction specially established by Treaty, and that while you are properly and zealously alive to any infractions of the Treaty, there will be danger of publick inconvenience, if you should make your functions obnoxious to the Local Authorities by allowing your attention to be diverted to objects that do not properly belong to you.

The British Commissioners.

I am,

&c.

GEORGE CANNING.

No. 95.-Mr. Secretary Canning to Messrs. Lefroy and Lance. GENTLEMEN, Foreign Office, November 26, 1822. I HAVE received Mr. Lefroy's Despatch of the 20th of September 1822, addressed to the late Marquess of Londonderry.

With respect to that portion of it, which relates to Charles Beverley, accused of being concerned in illicit Slave-dealing; I have at present only to refer you to my Despatches of the 25th of September last, and of the 12th instant, upon this subject.

In reference to the subject of the latter part of Mr. Lefroy's Despatch, I have to recommend you upon all occassions to keep strictly within the bounds of the Treaty, and of the Act of Parliament, which you are called upon to execute, lest the weight of your opinion, officially expressed, should lead to acts which His Majesty's Government might feel themselves called upon to disavow.

The British Commissioners.

I am, &c.

GEORGE CANNING.

No. 96.-Mr. Secretary Canning to Messrs Lefroy and Lance. GENTLEMEN, Foreign Office, November 26, 1822. I SEND to you, for your information and guidance, the Copy of a Despatch, addressed on the 22d of February 1822, by The King's command, to His Majesty's Ambassador at The Hague, proposing, that the provisions of the Treaty of the 4th of May 1818, for the case of the death of one or more of the Commissioners, shall extend to the case of

Vacancies occurring in the Commission from illness, or leave of absence. 2dly, the Copy of a Despatch, dated the 10th of May 1822, from His Majesty's Minister at The Hague, and of its Inclosure, stating the acquiescence of The King of The Netherlands in this proposition. And 3dly, the Copy of an Instruction, which I addressed on the 30th of September 1822, by The King's command, to His Majesty's Ambassador at Brussels, inclosing the Projet of an Additional Article for sanctioning in a more formal manner, the details of the arrangement in question.

So soon as any more specifick arrangement is agreed upon between the Parties, I shall lose no time in forwarding the same to you. In the mean-time you will endeavour to come to an agreement with your Fellow Commissioners to act in the spirit of the intended arrangement. I am, &c.

The British Commissioners.

GEORGE CANNING.

No. 97.-C. E. Lefroy, Esq. to Mr. Secretary Canning.—(Received April 27, 1823.)

SIR,

Surinam, December 4, 1822. I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your Letter of the 16th of September 1822, accompanied by one of the same date from The Right Honourable Earl Bathurst, acquainting me that His Majesty had been graciously pleased to appoint you to be His Principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, and instructing me in future to address to you my Despatches and Letters on publick business.

I have the honour to be, &c.

The Right Hon. George Canning.

CHRIS. EDW. LEFROY.

No. 98.-C. E. Lefroy, Esq. to Mr. Sicy. Canning.—(Rec. March 6.)
SIR,
Surinam December 23, 1822.

I HAVE the honour to submit to you, inclosed, Copy of a Letter just received from the Governor of Berbice, relating to a debarkation of 500 Africans in this Colony, so late as last month, and of one addressed by me to the Governor of this Colony; but I have little hope of any efficient steps being taken in consequence. It is painful to me to be obliged to continue to impugn the Authorities here, at a period so long since the execution of the Treaty, but I should be trifling with you, Sir, and His Majesty's Government, if I did not repeat my conviction that, without much more energetick conduct on the part of those Authorities, the Slave Trade in this Colony will never be overcome.

I beg to acknowledge the receipt of your Despatch of the 25th September, and have the honour to be, &c.

The Right Hon. George Canning.

CHRIS. EDW. LEFROY.

SIR,

(Inclosure 1.)—The Governor of Berbice to C. E. Lefroy, Esq. King's House, Berbice, December 6, 1822.

I HAD the honour of receiving your Letter of the 21st of November, conveying to me the satisfactory intelligence of the retaking of Charles Beverley, charged with Slave-trading.

I am

I greatly lament to hear of the open and extensive manner in which the Slave Trade is still carried on upon the Coast of Surinam. informed by Captain Boyd, of the American Schooner Olive Branch, which arrived here the 19th of November last, that his Vessel was detained two days and a half by a large ship, with about 500 new African Negroes on board, about 20 miles to windward of Bram's Point, and that he himself was compelled to go on board of the ship, when he was detained the whole of the above-mentioned time, and his boat employed in landing the Negroes, after which he was handsomely rewarded by the Captain of the Ship, and suffered to proceed on his voyage.

This is the most flagrant Case I have yet heard of, and I hope that the circumstances of it have come to your knowledge.

I have the honour to be, &c.

Christopher Edward Lefroy, Esq.

HENRY BEARD.

(Inclosure 2.)—The British Commissary Judge to the Governor of

SIR,

Surinam.

Paramaribo, December 23, 1822.

THE inclosed is the Copy of a Letter just received from the Governor of Berbice, which I lose not a moment in submitting to Your Excellency, in order that, by taking the proper steps (which no doubt you will) for the detection and punishment of the Parties concerned, you may satisfactorily vindicate this Colony and your Country from the imputations of bad faith, and utter indifference to all the prospective interests of the great family of man, to which the continuance of the transactions described in the inclosed must expose them in the eyes of all Europe.

The Slave-vessel is probably that to which Your Excellency some time since refused admi tance into this River.

I shall send a Copy of the inclosed by the first opportunity to my own Government, and likewise request the Governor of Berbice to endeavour to procure for me such further particulars from Captain Boyd as may assist Your Excellency in the conviction of the atrocious Scoundrels who thus persist in provoking the indignation, and defying the retributive justice, of their species and of God.

H. E. Major General De Veer.

I have the honour, &c.

CHRIS. EDW. LEFROY.

No. 99. Mr. Secretary Canning to Messrs. Lefroy and Lance. (Extract.) Foreign Office, December 27, 1822. MR. LEFROY'S Despatches up to 23d September, 1822, have been duly received.

His Majesty's Ambassador at the Court of The King of The Netherlands, has been instructed to request an explanation of the conduct of the Fiscal, in restoring to the Consignee the Negroes brought into Surinam by Charles Beverley, and to require that the Negroes may, (if not restored to liberty,) at least be taken into His Netherlands Majesty's service, till the matter of their legal importation be decided.

His Majesty's Ambassador has likewise been instructed to express a desire, that inquiries may be instituted, as to whether the escape of Beverley was favoured by any Persons in the employment of the Local Government, and whether any other British Subject besides Beverley was concerned in the importation of Slaves, with which that Person was charged.

His Majesty's Government have perceived, with some satisfaction, that, amid Mr. Lefroy's representations of the supineness of the Colonial Authorities, there does not appear in his Despatch of September 20, 1822, or in the Papers accompanying it, any suggestion that an importation of Slaves had actually occurred in Surinam, subsequent to the month of June 1821; and, except in respect to the omission of any offer of a reward for the apprehension of Beverley, the Governor's Proclamation, issued the day after his escape, appears to be sincerely framed with a view to the object of Beverley's recapture.

The establishment of a Registry for Slaves in the Colonies has been suggested to The Netherlands Government, as a measure well calculated to prevent their future importation; and His Majesty's Government hope, that the adoption of it may be found to be compatible with the policy and Regulations of The Netherlands Government at Surinam. The British Commissioners. GEORGE CANNING.

No. 100.-C. E. Lefroy, Esq. to Joseph Planta, jun. Esq.-(Received March 27.)

SIR,

Surinam, January 14, 1823.

I HAD yesterday the honour to receive your Circular of the 10th of September last, with the accompanying Copies of an humble Address which was presented to His Majesty, pursuant to a Resolution of the House of Commons, of the 27th of June 1822, upon the subject of the Traffick in Slaves, for my information and guidance on occasions when that subject may come under my notice.

Joseph Planta, jun. Esq.

I have the honour to be, &c.

CHRIS. EDW. LEFROY.

No. 101.-C. E. Lefroy, Esq. to Mr. Secretary Canning.-(Received March 27.)

SIR,

Surinam, January 20, 1823. I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your two Despatches dated the 26th of November 1822, (the latter accompanied by Copies of a Correspondence which has taken place with the Dutch Government, on a proposed extension of the Article of the Treaty for supplying Vacancies in the Commission in the case of death, to Vacancies from illness or leave of absence,) and I shall take care to conform to the Instructions which they severally contain.

Your Despatch of the 12th November, referred to in the former of the two, which I have now the honour to acknowledge, has not yet come to hand.

I have the pleasure to announce to you, that Mr. Lance arrived here on the 6th instant. He was shortly after taken ill, which has hitherto prevented him from being sworn in, and is the reason of his not signing this Despatch. I am, however, happy to say, that he is now in a state of convalescence. I have the honour to be, &c. CHRIS. EDW. LEFROY.

The Right Hon. George Canning.

No. 102.-C. E. Lefroy, Esq. to Mr. Secretary Canning.—(Received

SIR,

March 17.)

Surinam, January 25, 1823.

I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your Despatch of the 12th of November last, and I will be careful in future to govern my general official intercourse with the Local Authorities, by the limits and directions therein prescribed. I have the honour to be, &c.

The Right Hon. George Canning.

CHRIS. EDW. LEFROY,

No. 103.-C. E. Lefroy, Esq. to Mr. Secretary Canning.—(Received

SIR,

March 17.)

Surinam, January 25, 1823. I HAVE the honour to acknowlege the receipt of your Letter of the 6th of November, conveying to me His Majesty's gracious permission for me to come to England on the ground of ill health, for the space of six months, exclusive of the voyage backwards and forwards; and I hope, Sir, I am not unpardonably trespassing upon official formality in simply expressing, from the bottom of my heart, my gratitude for this indulgence, it being nothing less to me than a reprieve from death, or what is ten times worse, constitutional ruin.

I propose to leave this Colony about the end of April, or beginning of May, and will not fail to give due notification of my temporary departure to the Local Authorities, and the Board of which I am a Member. I have the honour to be, &c.

The Right Hon. George Canning.

CHRIS. EDW. LEFROY.

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