1 The neutral is, in all cases, amenable for the alleged infractions of the rights of the belligerent in matters of blockade, contraband of war, &c. to the tribunals of the belligerent, not to his own, or to any mixed tribunal. If it is said that this is not a case of war, but a regulation introduced in peace, and for the first time, the obvious answer is, does the case warrant the innovation? If it does, the novelty of the practice ought to form no decisive objection to its adoption; but it is by no means true that this is the first instance, in time of peace, where the property of the subject has been brought under a jurisdiction other than the ordinary tribunals of his own state. Claims, both of a private and public nature, have frequently, by conventional laws, been made the object of such a proceeding, which is made to operate as a species of arbitration. Can we quote a more decisive example than the two conventions which, in November, 1815, referred the private claims upon the French government, immense as they were in amount, to the decision of a mixed commission similarly constituted? It is also to be observed, that the subject gains a singular advantage by having his case disposed of before such a commission, which he would not obtain were he to have to proceed either in his own courts, or in that of the capturing power, for the restitution of his property, namely, that the commission, in deciding upon his cause, not only has the power of pronouncing upon his wrongs, but can give him, by its decision, ample damages, for the discharge of which, the state of the capturing ship is made answerable; whereas, in an ordinary case of capture, he would have a dilatory and expensive suit to carry on against, perhaps, an insolvent captor. Having noticed the principal objections brought forward in the French memoir, which they venture to persuade themselves are not insurmountable, the British plenipotentiaries have observed, with satisfaction, the exertions which the French government have made, and are still prepared to make, for combatting this evil, at least as far as it can be alleged to subsist within their own limits, and to be carried on by French subjects; but they feel persuaded that the government of his Most Christian majesty will take a more enlarged view of their power of doing good, and that they will be disposed to extend the sphere of their activity to the suppression of the mischief, wherever it can be reached by their exertions. The British government also does full justice to the manner in which the French government has, on all occasions, sought from them such information as might enable them the better to enforce the law of abolition. They bear testimony, with pleasure, not only to the sincerity of their exertions, but to the arrangements lately made, by stationing a naval force on the coast of Africa, for the more effectual suppression of the slave trade, so far as it is carried on by French ships and subjects. They also view, with the highest satisfaction, the determination now announced of introducing into all the French colonies a registry of slaves; all these beneficent arrangements may be expected to operate powerfully, so far as the mischief has decidedly a French character, but until all the principal powers can agree to have, as against the illicit slave trader, at least on the coast of Africa, but one common flag, and co-operating force, they will not have gone to the full extent of their means to effectuate their purpose, in conformity to their declarations at Vienna. With these observations the British plenipotentiaries will conclude their statement, submitting it to the candid examination of the several cabinets. It would be a great satisfaction to them to be assured, that the representations which they have felt it their duty to make, were likely to receive their earliest consideration, and that the ministers of the several powers in London might expect to receive such farther in. structions as might enable them, without loss of time, to resume their labors with effect. It being humbly submitted that the final act, which the sovereigns are about to solicit from his majesty the king of Portugal, is not an indispensable preliminary towards establishing, by common consent, on the coast of Africa, at least north of the equator, some efficient system for the suppression of the illicit traffic in slaves, which is, at this moment, carried on to the most alarming extent, and under the most aggravating circumstances, such as loudly to call for the special and authoritative interference of the illustrious sovereigns to whom these remarks are respectfully submitted. SIXTH ENCLOSURE IN No 11. Projet of a letter to His Most Faithful Majesty. SIR, MY BROTHER: At the period of the Congress of Vienna, the voice of religion, and the groans of suffering humanity, obtained the most consoling triumph. The world contemplated the near prospect of the termination of a scourge which has long desolated Africa; and your majesty has justly acquired the right to the eternal gratitude of nations in proclaiming, in concert with your allies, the principle of universal abolition of the trade in slaves. Since then the acts concluded at Paris in 1815, and the happy issue of the several negotiations devoted to the progressive execution of this measure, have strengthened the generous hopes of the age, and have predicted the full accomplishment of the transaction which they have solemnly sanctioned. If the result of the conference of Aix la Chapelle, which consummate the pacification, and guaranty the prosperity of Europe, still leave a wish, it is that of secing insured the final triumph of the declaration of the 8th of February, 1815, by the means of an act decreeing the abolition of the slave trade in all parts and for ever; that my allies and myself be not permitted to separate without turning our confident regards towards the powers to whom the Supreme Arbiter of the destinies of the earth has reserved the glory of putting an end to the afflictions of an unfortunate population. This definitive success will be without doubt the result of your majesty's intimate relations with the government of Great Britain, because a concurrence of conciliating intentions and of reciprocal sacrifices, is alone of a nature to prosper a work equally meritorious before God and in the eyes of men. It is only at the close of this negotiation that the measures of mutual inspection, decreed for the strict execution of a law become general, will crown the noble efforts of all the powers, called to govern the different parts of the globe, by the same sentiments of fraternity, of justice, and of religion. &c. &c. &c. No. 12. Despatch from Viscount Castlereagh to Earl Bathurst, dated Aix-laChapelle, November 24, 1818. MY LORD: I have the honor to transmit to your lordship the enclosed protocol of the conferences of the allied ministers, of the 11th and 19th instant, containing the votes of the different powers on the subject of the slave trade, which I have already forwarded to your lordship. I have the honor, &c. Earl BATHURST, &c. &c. &c. CASTLEREAGH. FIRST ENCLOSURE IN No. 12. Protocol of the Conference between the Plenipotentiaries of the Five Powers, held at Aix-la-Chapelle, the 11th of November, 1818. The duke de Richelieu read his observations upon the means proposed by the plenipotentiaries of Great Britain for inspecting and repressing the illicit slave trade. The observations of the duke de Richelieu, as well as the opinion of the Austrian cabinet, and that which the Prussian cabinet made known in a preceding sitting, are annexed to the protocol. METTERNICH, HARDENBERG, BERNSTORFF, CAPO D'ISTRIA. SECOND ENCLOSURE IN No. 12. Protocol of the conference between the plenipotentiaries of the Five Powers, held at Aix-la-Chapelle, the 19th of November, 1818. To resume the discussion of the ulterior measures to be adopted agamst the slave trade, Lord Castlereagh read a memorandum, in which he observed, upon the different propositions which have occupied the preceding conferences, and expressed his sincere regret that the present re-union had not brought about a more decisive result for the final success of the abolition, nor, above all, some resolution directly applicable to the repression of the cruel abuses by which the fraudulent commerce has hitherto eluded and frustrated the measures already agreed upon, and the laws and regulations already in force in various states. After having analysed and discussed in detail the objections brought forward to combat the system of reciprocal visit of ships suspected of being engaged in the illicit trade, and especially those which were developed in the note of the plenipotentiaries of France, as well as the means of execution proposed by the plenipotentiaries of Russia, Lord Castlereagh, in again calling the most serious attention of the powers to a cause so deserving of their interest, desired that the ministers of the courts taking part in the conferences in London should be enjoined to continue their deliberations upon this question, without waiting the effect which the formal measure adopted towards his Majesty the King of Portugal and the Brazils might produce; particularly as the result of this step was not an indispensable preliminary to the resolutions to be adopted, with common consent, for effectually suppressing the illicit traffic on the coast to the north of the line. The memorandum of Lord Castlereagh was annexed to the protocol, and the plenipotentiaries agreed to instruct the ministers of the courts in London in the sense of this last proposition. On the reading of this protocol, the plenipotentiaries of Russia added, that, independent of the instruction agreed upon between the courts, the ambassador of his majesty the Emperor, in London, would be informed of the desire of his Imperial Majesty to see the ministerial conference in London occupied not only with the general question, relative to the basis of the system to be adopted against the illicit trade, but, at the same time, the practical question of the amount of force necessary to be provided for the execution of the general measures; his Majesty the Emperor of Russia being ready to furnish his contingent as soon as the regulations to be established for this purpose shall be agreed upon. METTERNICH, CASTLEREAGH, HARDENBERG, No. 13. Dispatch from Viscount Castlereagh to Earl Bathurst, dated Paris, De cember 10, 1818. MY LORD: Since I arrived here, I have deemed it my duty to renew with the Duke de Richelieu the subject of the abolition, in order that I might be better enabled to judge as to the course it would be most advisable to pursue, for resuming, in London, under the protocol signed at Aix-la-Chapelle on the 19th November, the deliberations on this question. In conference with his excellency it was agreed that I should have an interview with the minister of the marine and colonies, the Count de Molé, and with the Count de Laisné, the minister of the interior, as the two departments in the government the most competent to advise the King upon the propriety, as well as upon the effect which those regulations might be expected to produce upon the public mind in France, which I had been directed in conjunction with the Duke of Wellington, to press at Aix-la-Chapelle. I had, accordingly, a conference with these ministers, of nearly three hours, in which I was enabled to go through with them, in the utmost detail, the whole of this important subject; to all the bearings of which they appeared to me to give their utmost attention, and with a desire that the difficulties which they conceived, at least for the present, to stand in the way of their adopting the measure, might be found, in the end, not to be insurmountable. It is unnecessary that I should attempt to report to your lordship the particulars of this extended conversation, as they would not vary, in any essential point, from the arguments brought forward by the Duke de Richelieu, and which are already so fully before the Prince Regent's government; I have no reason to draw any more unfavorable inference from the manner in which these ministers treated the subject; and they assured me of their disposition to render public in France every information which might tend to throw light on this interesting question, and to strengthen it in the public favor. Upon the whole, my lord, whilst I cannot give you hopes of any immediate progress, I venture, nevertheless, to indulge a sanguine expectation that, if the object be pursued with the same persevering and conciliating temper on the part of Great Britain, which has already achieved so much for the cause of abolition, the French government may be brought, at no distant period, to unite their naval exertions with those of the other allied powers for the suppression of the illicit slave trade, under the modified regulations submitted for this purpose to the plenipotentiaries assembled at Aix-la-Chapelle. I have the honor to be, &c. Earl BATHURST, &c. &c. CASTLEREAGH. |