PAPERS Relating to the Slave Trade. Presented to both Houses of Parliament by command of the Prince Regent. No. 1. Extract of the Protocol of the conference between the plenipotentiaries of Austria, France, Great Britain, Prussia, and Russia, held at London on the 14th December, 1817. COUNT CARAMAN-Chargé des Affaires of France. The plenipotentiaries of Great Britain, Russia, Prussia, and Austria, and the chargé des affaires of France, having agreed to meet together for the purpose of resuming the conferences relative to the abolition of the slave trade, Lord Castlereagh presents two conventions which his government has concluded during the present year; the one with Portugal, and the other with Spain, on the subject of the abolition of the slave trade: his excellency requests to defer to another day the consideration of these two transactions, with reference to the further measures which may, under the present circumstances, be to be taken respecting this question. The two said documents are annexed to this Protocol, sub litt. A and B. 1 A note, dated the 19th of February, 1817, addressed by the Portuguese minister to the plenipotentiaries, on the question of the abolition of the slave trade, is read; their excellencies agree to take into consideration the contents thereof, as soon as the subject shall again be proceeded in by them, and they order that it may, in the mean time, be inserted in the Protocol, to which it is annexed, sub litt. C. After which the sitting was adjourned. HUMBOLDT, G. DE CARAMAN. Note. The annexes A and B to the Protocol of the conference of the 4th December, 1817; (viz. the additional conventions between Great Britain, Portugal, and Spain, signed at London on the 28th July, 1817, and at Madrid on the 23d September, 1817, respectively,) have been already printed and laid before parliament. Annex C to the Protocol of the conference of the 4th of December, 1817, (Enclosed in No. 1.) Note of the Count de Palmella to the plenipotentiaries of the Five Powers. LONDON, 19th February, 1817. The undersigned, envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of his most faithful majesty, having received from his court the instructions requested by his predecessor, M. de Freire, upon the subject of the invitation addressed to him by the plenipotentiaries of the powers who signed the additional article of the treaty of Paris of the 20th of November, 1815, considers it his duty to make their excellencies acquainted with the tenor thereof, being persuaded that they will find therein satisfactory proof of the plain and candid line of conduct which the king his master has adopted, from the beginning of this negotiation. His majesty the king of Portugal, not having signed the additional article of the treaty of Paris of the 20th November, 1815, does not consider himself bound to take a part in the conferences established in London by virtue of that article, and the less so as, at the time when the said conferences were proposed at the Congress at Vienna, the Portuguese plenipotentiaries positively refused to concur therein. His majesty being, nevertheless, desirous of giving this further proof of his wish to co-operate with the high powers who signed the additional article, in the accomplishment of the object proclaimed in the declaration of the Congress of Vienna of the 8th February, 1815, has authorized the undersigned, notwithstanding the efforts and the sacrifices which it has already and must still cost the Brazils to accomplish it, to accept the invitation of the plenipotentiaries of those powers who signed the above mentioned additional article, and to take part in their conferences, whenever their excellencies shall have given him the assurance that the negotiation in question will be grounded upon the following principles: 1st. That, in conformity to the solemn declaration of the Congress of Vienna, due regard shall be had, in proceeding to the abolition of the slave trade, to the interests, the customs, and even the prejudices, of the subjects of those powers which still permit this traffic. 2dly. That each of the said powers having the right to enact the final abolition at the period which it may judge most expedient, that period shall be fixed upon between the powers by ineans of negotiation. 3dly. That the general negotiation which may ensue, shall in no way prejudice the stipulation of the 4th article of the treaty of the 22d January, 1815, between his most faithful majesty and his Britannic majesty, wherein it is stated, that the period when the said traffic is universally to cease and be prohibited in the Portuguese dominions, shall be fixed by a separate treaty between the two high contracting parties. The principles thus laid down appear to the undersigned to be so clear and so conformable to every thing which the plenipotentiaries to whom he has the honor of addressing himself, have themselves communicated to him; that he doubts not they will explicitly acknowledge them in the answer, which he has been desired by the King his master to request they will favor him with, and in consequence of which he will consider himself duly authorized to accept the invitation addressed by their excellencies to his predecessor, and to take part in the negotiation proposed at the sitting of the Congress at Vienna, held on the 20th January, 1815. The undersigned most readily avails himself of this opportunity to request their excellencies to accept the assurance of his highest consideration. LE COMPTE DE PALMELLA. To their Excellencies the Plenipotentiaries of the Powers who signed the additional article of the treaty of Paris, of the 20th November, 1815. No. 2. Protocol of the Conference between the Plenipotentiaries of the Five Powers, of the 4th of February, 1818. Lord Castlereagh reads a note verbale, containing a proposition on the part of his government, the object of which is to make a convention between the powers represented by the plenipotentiaries assembled, for the purpose of abolishing illicit slave trade; and he accordingly invites his colleagues to request forthwith instructions on this subject from their respective courts, in the event of their not being provided with sufficient authority to negotiate such a convention. Lord Castlereagh then reads several reports, derived from different societies occupied in the abolition of the slave trade, relative to the extent and nature of this traffic on the coasts of Africa, and requests the insertion in the protocol of the proposition above stated, together with the said reports as annexes thereunto. All these documents are inserted sub litt. A, B, C, D. The plenipotentiaries agree to invite verbally Count Palmella, Minister of Portugal, to assist at the ensuing conference on the abolition of the slave trade, and adjourn for the present the further consideration of the subject. CASTLEREAGH, FIRST ENCLOSURE IN No. 2. Annex A to the protocol of the conference of the 4th of February, 1818. MEMORANDUM OF VISCOUNT CASTLEREAGH In laying before the Conference the reports received from the African societies in London, in answer to the queries addressed to them by his majesty's government, upon the present state of the slave trade, as connected with the improvement and civilization of Africa, Lord Castlereagh (the reports being read) called the attention of his colleagues to the following prominent facts. That a considerable revival of the slave trade had taken place, especially on the coast of Africa north of the line, since the restoration of peace; and that the principal part of this traffic being now of an illicit description, the parties engaged in it had adopted the practice of carrying it on in armed and fast sailing vessels: That the ships engaged in this armed traffic, not only threatened resistance to all legal attempts to repress the same, but, by their piratical practices, menaced the legitimate commerce of all nations on the coast with destruction: That the traffic thus carried on was marked with increased horhors, from the inhuman manner in which these desperate adventurers were in the habit of crowding the slaves on board vessels better adapted to escape from the interruption of cruizers than to serve for the transport of human beings: That, as the improvement of Africa, especially in a commercial point of view, has advanced in proportien as the slave trade had been suppressed, so, with its revival, every prospect of industry and of amendment appears to decline: That the British government had made considerable exertions to check the growing evil; that, during the war, and whilst in possession of the French and Dutch settlements on that coast, their endeavours had been attended with very considerable success, but that, since the restoration of those possessions, and more especially since the return of peace, had rendered it illegal for British cruizers to visit vessels sailing under foreign flags, the trade in slaves had greatly increased: That the British government, in the performance of this act of moral duty, had invariably wished, as far as possible, to avoid giving umbrage to the rights of any friendly power; that, with this view, as early as July, 1816, the accompanying circular order had been issued to all British cruizers, requiring them to advert to the fact, that the right of search, (being a belligerent right) had ceased with the war, and directing them to abstain from exercising the same: That the difficulty of distinguishing, in all cases, the fraudulent from the licit slave traders, of the former of whom a large proportion were notoriously British subjects, feloniously carrying on this traffic in defiance of the laws of their own country, had given occasion to the detention of a number of vessels upon grounds which the Prince Regent's government could not sanction; and in reparation for which seizures, due compensation had been assigned in the late convention with Spain and Portugal: That it was, however, proved, beyond the possibility of a doubt, that, unless the right to visit vessels engaged in this illicit traffic should be established by the same being mutually conceded between the maritime states, the illicit slave trade must, in time of peace, not only continue to subsist, but to increase: That the system of obtaining fraudulent papers, and concealing the real ownership, was now carried on with such address as to render it easy for the subjects of all states to carry on the traffic, whilst the trade in slaves remained legal for the subjects of any one state. That, even were the traffic abolished by all states, whilst the flag of one state shall preclude the visit of all other states, the illicit slave trader will always have the means of concealing himself under the dis |