and I beg leave to transmit to your Lordship a Copy of the Proclamation I deemed it my duty to issue to this effect. Earl Bathurst, K.G. (Inclosure.)-Proclamation. R. T. FARQUHAR. In the Name of His Majesty George the Fourth, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, King.-His Excellency Sir Robert Townsend Farquhar, Bart. Governor of the Island of Mauritius and Dependencies, Captain General, Vice Admiral, &c. &c. &c. WHEREAS by a Treaty bearing date the 10th day of September 1822, made and executed by and between His Highness the Imaum of Muscat, at Muscat, of the one part, and Captain Fairfax Moresby, of His Majesty Ship Menai, C. B. vested for this purpose with Full Powers by Sir Robert Townsend Farquhar, Bart. Governor and Commander in Chief of the Island of Mauritius and Dependencies, Captain General, Vice Admiral, &c. &c. &c. of the other part; it was agreed, among other things, that all Traffic in Slaves to Foreign Countries should cease and be abolished for ever from the Dominions and Dependencies of His said Highness. This is to declare, that in conformity to the said Treaty, solemnly made by His said Highness, he has issued orders at Zanzibar, and throughout all the Dominions and Dependencies of the Imaum of Muscat, on the Coasts of Arabia, Africa, &c. &c. to all his Officers, to prohibit the sales of Slaves to all Foreign Nations; and also to seize upon any Arab Vessels laden with Slaves, for the purpose of sale in any Foreign Countries, together with their Owners, Captains, Officers and Crew, or that may be found transporting Slaves to or from Madagascar, or on the Seas adjacent; and it is further declared by the said Treaty, that British Cruizers have authority to seize all Arab Vessels that may be found laden with Slaves to the Eastward of a Line drawn from the Cape Delgado, passing 60 miles to the Eastward of the Island of Socatra, and on to Dirihead, being the Western extremity of the Gulf of Cambay, or that may be found carrying Slaves to or from Madagascar, or in the Seas adjacent; and further, finally, it is by the said Treaty agreed, that all Vessels from the Ports or Harbours of His Highness's Dominions or Dependencies, shall, in future, be furnished with a Certificate from the Local Authorities, stating the Port they belong to, and the object of their voyage; and declaring that all Vessels, unprovided with such Certificates, shall be liable to seizure and confiscation after the 10th of January next, in order the more effectually to extirpate the Slave Traffic, of which all Persons will take due notice. R. T. FARQUHAR. Government House, Port Louis, Mauritius, By order of His Excellency the Governor, G. A. BARRY, Chief Secretary to Government. No. 18.-Sir R. T. Farquhar to Earl Bathurst. (Extract.) Port Louis, Mauritius, November 27, 1822. IN conformity to the tenor of my Letters, Nos. 36 and 37, I have now the honour to forward a Copy of the Treaty with His Highness the Imaum of Muscat, for Abolishing the Slave Traffic with Foreign Powers, through all His Highness's Dominions and Dependencies. For Inclosure, see State Papers, 1824–1825, page 464. No. CORRESPONDENCE of the ADMIRALTY, RELATING TO THE SLAVE TRADE. PRESENTED TO PARLIAMENT, JULY 1823. A. COMMUNICATIONS FROM NAVAL OFFICERS. B.-INSTRUCTIONS TO NAVAL OFFICERS. SCHEDULE OF PAPERS.—(A.) COMMUNICATIONS from Naval Officers, since the 21st 1. Capt. H. J. Leeke to Commodore Sir R. Mends...... 2. Lieut. Mildmay to Commodore Sir R. Mends.... 3. Capt. B. M. Kelly to J. W. Croker, Esq., 4. Commodore Sir Robert Mends to J. W. Croker, Esq. 5. Report on the state of the Slave Trade on the Western Coast of Africa, by Commodore Sir R. Mends 6. Lieut. Hagan to Commodore Sir Robert Mends 7. Capt. T. Wolrige to J. W. Croker, Esq., 8. Commodore Sir Robert Mends to J. W. Croker, Esq... 9. Capt. Grace to Commodore Sir Robert Mends .... Off Gallinas River, 25th Oct. 542 Off Gallinas River, 2d Nov. 545 ... 5th Jan. 546 Sierra Leone...... 27th Mar. 546 11. Commodore Nourse to J.W. Croker, Esq. At Sea..... 12. Commodore Sir Robert Mends to J. W. Croker, Esq...... 1823. A. No. 1.-Captain Henry John Leeke to Commodore Sir Robert Mends. H. M. S. Myrmidon, off the River Bonny, Bight of Biafra, Sept. 12, 1821. (Extract.) AFTER Completing my water in the Bay of Fernando Po, I put to Sea with the determination of searching the Bonny River, if the weather would permit. I accordingly anchored off Antony Point on the evening of the 9th of August, and at day-light the next morning I dispatched the Boats under the command of Lieutenant Bingham, for the purpose of intercepting any Slaves he might find there. In going up the Antony River instead of the Bonny, we ascertained that it was a much shorter cut to the anchorage of the Slave Vessels in the latter River, and that it enabled the Boats to surprise them by day-break. They found no less than six French Vessels all trafficking for Slaves; the first they boarded was a Brig, with 150 on board, and the Ciptain of her informed Mr. Bingham that there was a Spanish Brig and Schooner in the creek full of Slaves, and their Crews on shore in a state of mutiny. We immediately pulled in the Gig (with the Pinnace in company) to search them, and upon approaching he fired a musket or two to make them hoist their Colours, and to prevent their Slaves from jumping overboard, which numbers were in the act of doing; they took no notice of this, but upon coming within pistol-shot they hauled up their ports and commenced a heavy fire of grape and musketry. The contents of the first gun, I am sorry to say, took the stern sheets of the Gig, and severely wounded Lieutenant Bingham, Mr. Deschamps, Midshipman, and John Morgan, Serjeant of Marines, and one seaman. This resistance being so unexpected, and the Commanding Officer apparently dying from the wound he had received in his breast, and the Vessels keeping up so warm a fire upon them, he judged it expedient to withdraw the Boats until a stronger force could be obtained. Immediately upon receiving this intelligence, I dispatched Mr. Edwin, with a reinforcement of 29 men, to attack them; but he having ascertained that the Vessels had made every possible preparation to defend themselves, by lashing several hundreds of iron bars round them, and laying a platform of the same athwart from the upper part of the bulwark, and then awnings so taut nailed down that no entrance could be effected but by one man at a time; under all these circumstances, I judged it impracticable for our Boats to board without sacrificing many lives, and the weather being extremely bad I was unwilling further to expose my men. I therefore conceived it my duty to do my utmost to take the Ship up the River, in order to punish the renegadoes for their insolent conduct. I was further induced to make the attempt, in consequence of a representation having been made to me that the King of Bonny had very ill-treated our Merchants trading with him for palm oil, detaining them unnecessarily six or seven months, while the Slave Vessels received their Cargoes in the short space of one, and they felt satisfied that the appearance of a Man of War would be of the greatest importance to their Trade. Having, therefore, taken every possible precaution of sounding repeatedly upon the two bars, laying buoys down and waiting for the advantage of clear weather, the proper time of tide, and a fair wind, which necessarily in the rainy season on this Coast caused much delay, I am happy to say I crossed the bar in safety, carrying three and a half fathoms, and anchored in the road of Bonny a little after sunset, on the 31st August. The Spaniards, upon seeing the Ship, immediately escaped on shore, and sent me a joint Letter acknowledging that they had done wrong by firing into the Boats, and entreated I would take their Vessels and spare their lives. To this, of course, I made no reply; but finding that all the Slaves had been sent on shore, and that the Natives had taken away all their Cargo and provisions, much time was lost previous to our taking possession, in making the King deliver them up again, which, however, I at length effected by threats and intimidation. On boarding them we found 154 Slaves in the Brig, and 130 in the Schooner; the former is a remarkably fine Vessel of 254 tons, mounting 12 carriage guns, and at the time she fired upon our Boats had a complement of 75 men, 30 of whom had been taken from the Schooner. Commodore Sir Robert Mends. [See the remainder of this Letter, page 538.], HENRY J. LEEKE. No. 2.- Lieutenant Mildmay to Commodore Sir Robert Mends. On board the Conde de Villa Flor, (Extract.) I HAVE the honour to inform you, that owing to the strong southerly current I made but little progress for the first two or three days after I left the Ship, and being afterwards set between two of the Islands in the Channel of the Rio Grande, with which the Pilot was unacquainted, I did not reach Bissão before the 21st February, about half past eleven A. M., when I found lying there a Vessel answering the description of the one of which you had previously received information. I pulled up towards her with the Boats, and when close under her quarter was received by a discharge from one of her stern chasers, as well as several small arms. I immediately boarded, and, after a slight resistance, took possession of her. She proved to be the Portuguese Hermaphrodite Schooner Conde de Villa Flor, mounting 1 long eighteenpounder on a sweep amidships, 6 nine-pounder carronades, and 2 long one-pounder guns on swivels astern, and otherwise well armed with muskets, &c. and manned with 35 Sailors and 5 black Soldiers, of whom there I killed and 3 wounded, having on board 172 Slaves, men, women, and children, who were taken on board at Bissão, principally on the day before and on the afternoon of the day of Capture. It is with particular gratification I announce to you, Sir, the Capture of this Vessel, as the circumstance of the Governor of Bissão, having 8 Slaves on board, with more expected had she remained, and his sending on board 5 black Soldiers instead of as many of her Crew who had died there, will show the intimate connexion existing between him and the Slave Dealers who frequented the Port. I regret at the same time, the Commander of the Schooner, by name Manoel Antonio de Silva Brandao, (a Portuguese, and a man who for several years has been engaged in this disgraceful Traffic), should have been on shore; I thought, at first, of sending a requisition demanding him, but on reflection I did not deem it prudent to do so, as there appeared but little probability of its being attended with success, and I did not know what might be the result to the Officer and Boats Crew sent, from the open and avowed manner in which the Governor was concerned in the loading and protecting this Vessel. On the morning following the Capture, at day-light, I liberated about 80 Slaves, who were in irons, amongst whom were children of 12 and 14 years of age. Commodore Sir R Mends. SIR, GEO. W. ST. JOHN MILDMAY No. 3.-Captain B. M. Kelly to John Wilson Croker, Esq. Free Town, Sierra Leone, March 8, 1822. I BEG leave to inclose, for the information of my Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, the narrative taken on oath before His Majesty's Advocate at Sierra Leone, of Quashie Sam, late one of the Prize Crew of the Portuguese Slaving Brig Vulcano, detained by the Pheasant; detailing the melancholy events attending the re-capture from, and subsequent murder of, the Prize Master and Crew put on board to navigate her to Sierra Leone. Their Lordships will observe that there is another of the Native Africans (one of the Prize Crew) still alive, and in Slavery in the Brazils. Quashie Sam has been discharged from the Pheasant, and gone down in His Majesty's Ship Iphigenia to Cape Coast, his Native Town. have mentioned to Commodore Sir R. Mends, that it would be advisable to place him under the eye of the Governor of Cape Coast Castle, in order that he may be forthcoming should their Lordships be desirous of obtaining any further information from him. His Majesty's Advocate at Sierra Leone took Quashie Sam, previous to his departure, to the gaol, for the purpose of identifying the Portuguese Seaman Juan Antonio, alias Juan Antonio Bento, reported in |