cular feature in the Dutch government at this time, is the desire of preventing the slave trade, which their representative in this country takes every opportunity of aiding and abetting. Portuguese vessels are furnished with canoes, and Spaniards supplied with water. The beginning of last month a Spanish ship was four days at anchor in Elmina, receiving water, and bartering dollars for such goods as were suited for the purchase of slaves. This vessel proceeded a short distance to leeward, and came to anchor off Opam, a place about eight miles to the eastward of Tantum, where the master purchased to the number of four hundred slaves, and carried them off to the coast; a Spanish schooner also took slaves off from the same neighborhood about three months ago." I have the honor to be, &c. To Viscount Castlereagh, K. G. &c. &c. Z. MACAULEY. No. 3. Protocol of the Conference between the Plenipotentiaries of the Five Powers, of the 7th of February, 1818. The protocol of the last conference being read, the Plenipotentiaries approved and signed it. Count Palmella having accepted the verbal invitation which, in conformity to what had been agreed upon at the conference of the 4th of February last, was made to him by the Plenipotentiaries, Lord Castlereagh communicates to him the convention concluded between his government and that of Spain, on the 23d September, 1817, relative to the abolition of the slave trade, and invites him, in concert with the Plenipotentiaries his colleagues, to add his efforts to theirs for the attainment of an object so interesting to humanity, and which can only be completed when his Most Faithful Majesty shall have adopted similar measures. Count Palmella replied, that, in accepting, by his note of the 17th February, 1817, the invitation which had been addressed to his predecessor, to take part in the conferences held in pursuance of the additional article of the treaty of Paris, of the 20th of November, 1815, he had, by order of his court, declared the conditions upon which he was authorized to assist at these conferences, and that he did not doubt, from the renewed invitation he had just received from the Plenipotentiaries, but that those "bases" had been accepted, the more so, as they were entirely grounded upon the most just principles. Count Palmella added, that he would lose no time in transmitting to his court the communication of the treaty just concluded between the British and Spanish governments for the abolition of the slave trade on the part of the subjects of his Catholic majesty; and that his Most Faithful Majesty, according to the known principles professed by him individually, would doubtless behold, with the most perfect satisfaction, the advantages which would thereby result to the cause of humanity; which principles his plenipotentiaries had solemnly declared at the Congress of Vienna, and to which Count Palmella entirely referred himself, as also to the explanations given at the same period respecting the circumstances particularly affecting the Brazils. Upon which the sitting was adjourned. HUMBOLDT, OSMOND, LIEVEN, CASTLEREAGH. No. 4. Protocol of the Conference between the Plenipotentiaries of the Five Powers, of the 11th of February, 1818. The protocol of the last conference of the 7th of February, being read, was approved and signed. Count Palmella having declared himself, at the conference of the 7th February, ready to receive and transmit to his court the commu nication of the convention concluded between Great Britain and Spain, under date of the 23d September, 1817, the Plenipotentiaries agree to enclose the same to him, in a note which is annexed to this protocol, sub lit. Α. The Plenipotentiaries do not consider themselves called upon to enter at present into discussion on the subject of the conditions stated in Count Palmella's official note of the 17th February, 1817, and to which he alluded at the last conference, thinking it sufficient to refer, as to the principal object of their present proceeding, entirely to what is to be found in the protocols of the conferences held on this subject at the Congress of Vienna, as also to the solemn declaration of the Powers, dated on the 8th February, 1815, made at the said Congress. Upon which the sitting was adjourned. HUMBOLDT, ESTERHAZY, CASTLEREAGH. ENCLOSURE IN No. 4. Annex A, to the Protocol of the Conference of the 11th of February, 1818. Note of the Plenipotentiaries of the Five Powers to Count Palmella. LONDON, December 11, 1817. The undersigned, in reference to the communication made to Count Palmella, at the conference of the 7th instant, lose no time in having the honor of transmitting, herewith enclosed, to his excellency, the treaty concluded between his Britannic majesty and his Catholic majesty, which stipulates, on the part of Spain, the final abolition of the slave trade, and thus offers a very satisfactory result to the solicitude which their respective courts evince for the fulfilment of the engagements they have contracted by the additional article of the treaty of Paris, of the 20th November, 1815. The complete attainment of this interesting object, now solely depending on the abandonment by the court of Portugal of that part of the slave trade which she has still reserved to herself south of the line, the undersigned have the honor to invite count Palmella to solicit from his court full powers to enable him to act in concert with them towards the accomplishment of so desirable an object. They have at the same time the honor to add, herewith, extracts from the protocols of the two last conferences on this subject, for his excellency's information, and they avail themselves of this opportunity to offer him the assurance of their distinguished consideration. LIEVEN, CASTLEREAGH, No. 5. Extract of the protocol of the sitting of the 14th of February, 1818. The plenipotentiaries having approved the protocol of the last conference of the 11th February it is signed. The answer of the count de Palmella to the note which the plenipotentiaries addressed to him on the 11th February, is read, and placed upon the present protocol, sub litt. A. ENCLOSURE IN No. 5. Annex A, to the protocol of the 14th of February, 1818. LONDON, February 12, 1818. The undersigned has received the note which the plenipotentiaries of those courts who signed the additional article of the treaty of Paris of the 20th November, 1815, have done him the honor to address to him, under the date of yesterday. He will take the earliest opportunity of conveying to the knowledge of his court, the treaty concluded between his Britannic majesty and his Catholic majesty, which their excellencies have been pleased to communicate to him officially, together with the extracts of the protocols of their two last conferences on this subject. The undersigned being already furnished with the full powers and instructions necessary to enable him to assist at the conferences held by their excellencies, and to discuss, in concert with them, the means of attaining the desirable objects in question, does not think himself entitled to ask for new full powers, unless the question should positively change its nature, by a refusal (which the undersigned cannot possibly expect from the plenipotentiaries) to admit, on their part, the principles put forth in the first note which he had the honor to address to them. Whenever their excellencies shall think themselves called upon to enter into the discussion of those principles, they will see that they all evidently and immediately spring from the declaration of the Congress of Vienna of the 8th February, 1815, and from the treaty concluded at the period of the said Congress between his most faithful majesty and his Britannic majesty, for the extinction of the slave trade to the north of the line. The undersigned takes this opportunity of offering to their excellencies the assurance of his high consideration. THE COUNT DE PALMELLA. Memorandum. The plenipotentiaries having reason to understand that the instructions under which count Palmella acted, were not of a nature which would enable him to conclude any convention, assigning any fixed period for the abolition on the part of Portugal, without reference to his government, did not think it expedient to enter, under such circumstances, into further discussions with count Palmella, inasmuch as they conceived that such discussions could not have led to any satisfactory result. UNITED STATES. No. 8. Letter from Viscount Castlereagh to Richard Rush, Esq. American minister in London, dated FOREIGN OFFICE, 20th of June, 1818. SIR: The distinguished share which the government of the United States has, from the earliest period, borne in advancing the cause of the abolition of the slave trade, makes the British government desirous of submitting to their favorable consideration whatever may appear to them calculated to bring about the final accomplishment of this great work of humanity. The laudable anxiety with which you personally interest yourself in whatever is passing upon this important subject, will have led you to perceive, that, with the exception of the crown of Portugal, all states have now either actually prohibited the traffic in slaves to their subjects, or fixed an early period for its cessation, whilst Portugal has also renounced it to the north of the equator. From May, 1820, there will not be a flag which can legally cover this detested traffic to the north of the line, and there is reason to hope, that the Portuguese may, ere long, be also prepared to abandon it to the south of the equator; but so long as some effectual concert is not established amongst the principal maritime powers for preventing their respective flags from being made a cover for any illicit slave trade, there is but too much reason to fear. whatever may be the state of the law on this subject, that the evil will continue to exist, and, in proportion as it assumes a contraband form, that it will be carried on under the most aggravated circumstances of cruelty and desolation. It is from a deep conviction of this truth, founded upon experience, that the British government, in all its late negotiations upon this subject, has endeavored to combine a system of alliance for the suppression of this most abusive practice, with the engagements which it has succeeded in contracting with the governments of Spain and Portugal, for the total or partial abolition of the slave trade. I have now the honor to enclose to you copies of the treaties which have been happily concluded with those powers, together with the acts |