of the State of Hamburgh; or if such work be published in parts, then within 3 months after the publication of the last part thereof. And it is hereby further ordered, that the authors of dramatic pieces and musical compositions, which shall, after the said 16th day of December, 1853, be first publicly represented or performed within the State of Hamburgh, or their assigns, shall have the sole liberty of representing or performing in any part of the British dominion such dramatic pieces or musical compositions, during a period equal to the period during which authors of dramatic pieces and musical compositions, first publicly represented or performed in the United Kingdom, are entitled by law to the sole liberty of representing or performing the same; provided such dramatic pieces or musical compositions have been registered, and copies thereof have been delivered according to the requirements of the said recited Act, within 3 months after the time of their being first represented or performed in any part of the State of Hamburgh. And the Right Honourable the Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury are to give the necessary directions herein accordingly. C. C. GREVILLE. BRITISH ORDER IN COUNCIL, fixing the Duties payable on the Importation of British Books re-published in Hamburgh, and Prints and Drawings imported from Hamburgh. November 25, 1853. At the Court at Windsor, the 25th day of November, 1853. THE QUEEN'S MOST EXCELLENT MAJESTY IN COUNCIL. WHEREAS by an Act, passed in the session of Parliament holden in the 9th and 10th years of the reign of Her Majesty [cap. 58],* intituled "An Act to amend an Act of the 7th and 8th years of Her present Majesty, for reducing, under certain circumstances, the the duties payable upon books and engravings," it is enacted that whenever Her Majesty has, by virtue of any authority vested in her for that purpose, declared that the authors, inventors, designers, engravers, or makers of any books, prints, or other works of art, first published in any foreign country or countries, shall have the privilege of copyright therein, it shall be lawful for Her Majesty, if she think fit, from time to time, by any Order in Council, to declare that, from and after a day to be named in such Order in lieu * Vol. XXXIV. Page 416. of the customs from time to time payable on the importation into the United Kingdom of books, prints, and drawings, there shall be payable only such duties of Customs as are set forth in the said Act: And whereas Her Majesty hath this day, by virtue of the authority vested in her for that purpose, declared that the authors inventors, designers, engravers and makers of books, prints, and certain other works of art, first published within the State of Hamburgh, shall have the privilege of copyright therein : Now, therefore, Her Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of Her Privy Council, and in virtue of the authority committed to her by the said recited Act, doth order, and it is hereby ordered, that from and after the 16th day of December, 1853, in lieu of the duties of Customs now payable upon books, prints, and drawings, published at any place within the State of Hamburgh, and imported from thence into the United Kingdom, there shall be payable only the duties of Customs following; that is to say: Works originally produced in the United Kingdom, £ 8. d. and re-published within the State of Hamburgh, the cwt. Works not originally produced in the United King 2 10 0 And the Right Honourable the Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury are to give the necessary directions herein accordingly. C. C. GREVILLE. CORRESPONDENCE of Great Britain, relative to the Slave Trade, 1852, 1853; viz.: CLASS A.-CORRESPONDENCE WITH THE BRITISH COMMIS Page 22. Acting Judge Crawford to the Earl Jan. 1 Annual Report for 1852. 285 of Malmesbury. 41. H.M.'s Commissioner to Viscount Jan. 23 Report of the Mixed No. 6.--Her Majesty's Commissary Judge ad interim to the Earl of MY LORD, Malmesbury.-(Received February 28.) Sierra Leone, January 15, 1853. I HAVE the honour to present to your Lordship my report on the state of the Slave Trade on this coast, during the past year, with such information on the subject as has come under my notice. In the above period, no case has been brought before the British and Foreign Mixed Courts of Justice established here for the suppression of that traffic; neither have any slaves been emancipated by those courts during the year: consequently there is no alteration in the number of cases prosecuted in these Mixed Commissions, nor of slaves emancipated and registered since last year's report. In the Vice-Admiralty Court of the colony, there have been adjudicated within the year just ended, under the Act 2 and 3 Vict., cap. 73, 3 vessels without papers or colours,-cases of condemnation. Also under the Act 5 Geo. IV, cap. 113, have been emancipated 31 slaves captured in a country canoe, in British waters. No case has been brought for adjudication under Act 8 and 9 Vict., cap. 122. The foregoing captures were made in the following localities, namely, one off Cape Lopez to the south of the Line, another in Bulama Creek, Rio Grande to the north, and the other off the Sherbro. The 31 slaves in the country canoe were taken about 2 miles from the Banana Islands, by Mr. John Stone Palmer, assistant manager of Kent, in the western district of this colony. They were on their way from Sherbro to the Soosoo country. In this last case alone were there any slaves, the 3 others having been proceeded against for equipment only. The number of slaves so emancipated was 31. All the captures, with one exception, were made to the north of the Line. I am unable to give your Lordship any correct information as regards the nationality of the captures, from the fact of their having had neither flag nor papers on board; it appearing generally the practice of parties engaged in the traffic to destroy them, in order to evade the punishment to which they would otherwise have been liable. The crew and captain of the last captured vessel at the Sherbro were Spanish, 4 of whom were given over to the Spanish Consul, and 13 are believed to have died at the Sherbro, where they were put on shore when the vessel was seized. There is a decrease of one-half in the number of the cases adjudicated in this Vice-Admiralty Court last year, when compared with that of the year 1851; and much greater in that of slaves captured and emancipated, the number of the latter having been reduced to one-seventeenth. For some years past there has been a marked and gradual decrease in the number of captures. This circumstance is an unquestionable proof of the success which has attended the measures adopted by Great Britain for the suppression of the Slave Trade; but at the same time, I must not lead your Lordship to suppose that there exists an inclination on the part of the native tribes to abolish that traffic altogether, agriculture and legitimate commerce not having yet been sufficiently established to supplant the Slave Trade, which has hitherto chiefly been the means of supplying their wants; and therefore, whenever there is an opportunity to ship slaves for the Brazilian or Cuban markets, they will readily embrace the same. To the north of this colony, although I have no certain informa tion of the actual shipment of a cargo of slaves, rumours have reached this place of attempts having been made to recommence the Slave Trade in the Rio Pongos, where it was said that a collection of slaves had been made in the expectation of the arrival of a vessel from Cuba to take them away; as a proof of which I need only refer your Lordship to inclosures in my predecessor's despatch of the 5th of July, 1852. Indeed, a Spanish vessel made an attempt to enter that river in January last, but was wrecked off its bar, and 6 of her crew having made their way to this colony, were subsequently sent to England by the Spanish Consular Agent. The Habaniera Chica, another Spansh vessel, was seized and condemned last year at St. Mary's, River Gambia, for being found in British waters equipped for the Slave Trade. The prize to Her Majesty's brig Sealark, taken in the Rio Grande or Jeba, on the 8th March, 1852, is also another proof of the attempts to revive the traffic in that locality. These vessels were doubtless intended for the Island of Cuba, where the demand for slaves is said to be great. To the south of the colony, during the past year, some of the slave dealers who were expelled from the Gallinas in 1849 have returned to its neighbourhood, and recommenced their nefarious traffic. Don Crispo, one of the foregoing, succeeded in shipping a cargo of slaves in June last; 2 slaves who were to have formed part of that cargo fortunately escaped to this colony, and made depositions at the police office to that effect, copies of which were forwarded to your Lordship in the despatch before mentioned. Crispo's slavė trading transactions are notorious, inasmuch as it is reported that he has collected a number of slaves in the Sherbro, who were doubtless intended to form a cargo for the vessel captured by Her Majesty's steamer Bloodhound, off that place in November last. Her Majesty's steamer Polyphemus has, since that period, made a descent upon the coast, in the Kittam country, burned a barracoon, and brought away 10 slaves, many others having been carried off to the bush. The Treaty with the King of Dahomey, if faithfully carried out, will doubtless prevent the revival of the Slave Trade in the Bight of Benin, where for the present that traffic is reported to have altogether ceased. To the south of the Line also it appears to have received a great check; in fact, there is almost a total stagnation, which is owing to the united efforts of the local authorities at Loanda and the British squadron, and where large numbers of natives, who would formerly have been exported as slaves, are now employed in bringing to the coast the lawful produce of the country. Let us therefore hope, my Lord, that those parties who used to carry on the Slave Trade will |